Concerns are growing after President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, announced he has requested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate whether U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) violated federal law by hosting a webinar informing undocumented immigrants of their civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Calling Homan’s remarks “extremely disturbing,” civil rights attorney and longtime public defender Scott Hechinger wrote: “There is nothing more unconstitutional than threatening to punish someone for sharing information about the Constitution.”

And in a video, he added that what Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is doing is “nothing more than sharing rights, knowledge of rights, knowledge of the Constitution with her immigrant constituents.”

“There is nothing more constitutional than sharing education about the Constitution,” he said. And he declared that the “bottom line is that this is a tactic of fear. This is a tactic of terror.”

READ MORE: Federal Judge ‘Skeptical’ of DOGE: Report

“They’re not only coming for our immigrant neighbors, they’re coming for all of us, and they’re coming for all of us for simply sharing what the Constitution says, because knowledge they know is power, and they want to maintain full and unadulterated power over all of us.”

“What they’re doing by even suggesting that AOC’s conduct or any of our conduct related to sharing rights is illegal in some way, is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s suppression of speech, it’s suppression of truth, and it’s not okay.”

Homan told Fox News on Monday, “I’ve asked DOJ, where where’s that line of impedment?” he said repeatedly, appearing to mean “impediment.”

“Now if someone stands in your way, prevents you from arresting somebody, put your hands on him, that’s impedment.”

“So I’ve simply Department of Justice, give us that line,” he said, claiming he finds it “disturbing” that “any member of Congress wants to educate people how they evade law enforcement.”

“What she in fact is doing is telling people, ‘don’t open your door,’ ‘hide in your home’, ‘don’t talk to ICE,'” Homan said. “We’re talking about people who are in the country illegally, committed a crime, they’re a public safety threat, they’ve been convicted of serious crime, and they’ve been ordered removed by federal judge. So it’s like AOC and others don’t want ICE to enforce the laws that they enacted.”

But ICE is not only arresting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of serious crime, they are also, according to reports, arresting Americans.

“American citizens, including citizens of Native tribal nations, have been pulled into the vast immigration operations ordered by President Donald Trump in accordance with his campaign vow to conduct mass deportations since Day 1,” NBC News reported late last month. “Those who are getting caught in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids are being targeted because of their race or skin color, according to witnesses.”

Homan’s repeated presence on Fox News may also indicate that his public relations efforts are taking precedence, since ICE has not been able to find enough undocumented immigrants to arrest to meet their alleged quotas.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to arrest higher numbers of immigrants and falling far short of the administration’s goals,” The Washington Post reported over the weekend. “ICE arrests have sagged so far this month, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security, declining from about 800 per day in late January after Trump took office to fewer than 600 during the first 13 days of February. The administration has stopped publishing daily numbers, and Trump officials said they will release the data on a monthly basis to conserve resources.”

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Beyond Belief’: Musk and Trump Blasted as DOGE Fires ‘Hundreds’ of FAA Employees

Last week, Homan made essentially the same remarks, also on Fox News. He added, “I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now.”

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez quickly mocked him.

“MaYbe shE’s goiNg to be in TroUble nOw”

Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start https://t.co/vQ69UDyQnT

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2025

In a statement to Fox News AOC also said, “I am glad Mr. Homan is checking with the Department of Justice to familiarize himself with the limits of his agency’s authority in entering the homes of everyday Americans without a warrant. And I am proud to offer civil education to everyday Americans to ensure ICE’s compliance with the law, given the numerous reports of agents providing incorrect paperwork in their attempts to enter and search private homes.”

“Since Mr. Homan seems to be vaguely familiar with U.S. immigration law, we also remind him that according to Congressional statute, becoming undocumented in the United States is a civil offense and not a criminal one. I look forward to continuing our work in ensuring the safety of everyday New Yorkers while keeping families together.”

My thoughts on the illegal & unconstitutional threat to prosecute @AOC for merely educating her immigrant constitutions about the constitution.

Knowing your rights, exercising your rights, & informing other about theirs is a legal & moral imperative. pic.twitter.com/Q8aKbvAXEo

— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) February 17, 2025

Watch the videos above or at the link.

READ MORE: White House Mum After Classified Info Reportedly Appears on Musk’s DOGE Website

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A federal judge reportedly appeared skeptical toward Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” and its ability to act unilaterally, during a Monday hearing on a lawsuit brought to stop DOGE from accessing federal agency data. But the judge did not appear prepared to grant a restraining order, saying the states that brought the case had not provided enough evidence to warrant emergency intervention.

While U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not seem inclined to order DOGE to immediately stop accessing government computer systems, fire federal employees, or place any restraining order on its operations, she reportedly seemed skeptical of the group’s authority.

“Judge Chutkan still appears disinclined to legally bar Elon Musk and his allies [from] accessing federal agency data, saying the states didn’t [present] enough concrete facts for the extraordinary emergency relief,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports.

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Beyond Belief’: Musk and Trump Blasted as DOGE Fires ‘Hundreds’ of FAA Employees

Critically, Cheney adds that Judge Chutkan is “clearly skeptical of DOGE’s operations but said that can be hashed out in further litigation and many of the harms can be addressed later.”

Chutkan “agreed that Musk’s operations” via DOGE “were taking place in troubling secrecy. And she acknowledged that DOGE is operating so swiftly that it is difficult to reach quick conclusions about the legality of its moves,” Cheney reports at Politico.

“DOGE appears to be moving in no sort of predictable and orderly fashion and plaintiffs are obviously scrambling to find out what’s next,” Chutkan said Monday. “I don’t know if that’s deliberate or not.”

MSNBC legal analyst Adam Klasfeld reports on a critical exchange between Judge Chutkan and a government lawyer.

“When asked whether thousands of federal employees were fired last week, a government lawyer responds: ‘I have not been able to look into that independently, or confirm that.'”

“Judge Chutkan responds, incredulously: ‘The firing of thousands of federal employees is not a small or common thing. You haven’t been able to confirm that?'”

Politico also reports that attorneys for the largely blue states “argue that Musk’s influential role in the government violates the Constitution’s appointments clause, which generally requires that powerful officers in the executive branch are formally appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. A separate lawsuit federal employees filed in Maryland makes a similar argument.”

Judge Chutkan, Bloomberg News’ Zoe Tillman reports, “scoffed at DOJ’s claim that Musk has no ‘formal’ authority to make gov’t decisions.”

READ MORE: White House Mum After Classified Info Reportedly Appears on Musk’s DOGE Website

“Nowhere have my friends offered a shred of anything,” a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer said, “nor could they, to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decisions himself.”

“I think you stretch too far,” Judge Chutkan replied. “I disagree with you there.”

States are arguing that Elon Musk has effectively been granted “authority to make decisions for the U.S. government,” according to the DOJ’s written argument. MSNBC’s Adam Klasfeld posted a screenshot and highlighted the portion below:

“That premise is of course wrong,” DOJ asserts. “It rests entirely on conflating influence and authority. But an advisor does not become an officer simply because the officer listens to his advice. And stripped of their lengthy rhetoric, the States do not actually cite a single example of where Elon Musk (or anyone at USDS) has been given formal authority to exercise the sovereign power of the United States.”

Klasfeld calls this “a key government defense to the Appointments Clause challenge of DOGE and Elon Musk’s authority.”

“Judge Chutkan’s skepticism on that issue, ultimately, could have more lasting significance than the current battle over the” restraining order.

Cheney adds that “Chutkan said she’ll try to rule within 24 hours. Don’t expect a restraining order, but she has asked for facts from DOJ — details about mass firings that have occurred and may occur in next 14 days — that could lead to an injunction.”

The original lawsuit charged, “Although our constitutional system was designed to prevent the abuses of an 18th century monarch, the instruments of unchecked power are no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st century tech baron,” as ABC News reported.

READ MORE: ‘United States of Extortion’: New Trump Ukraine ‘Shakedown’ Called ‘Cheap Mafia’ Move

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is reportedly firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, according to multiple reports and the FAA workers’ union, even as fatal plane crashes continue to mount under President Donald Trump’s administration — including one as recently as Saturday.

“The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told the Associated Press,” the AP reported. The firings also come as the FAA is without a Senate-confirmed administrator, after Musk called for him to resign. In 2023, Michael Whitaker had been confirmed unanimously, 98-0.

The terminations of what are called “probationary” employees can include not only employees hired within the past year, but also long-term employees who have been recently promoted. Air traffic controllers and other employees are a critical segment of the federal government. The FAA’s hiring practices are rigorous and require tremendous training, as a former Federal Aviation Administration official said recently after President Trump strongly suggested the deadly mid-air crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport might have been the result of “DEI” hiring.

READ MORE: White House Mum After Classified Info Reportedly Appears on Musk’s DOGE Website

CNN, which first reported DOGE’s mass firings had now hit the FAA, noted that the “exact number of firings is not yet known, but the head of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO, said that ‘several hundred’ workers started getting firing notices on Friday — and that they could even be barred from FAA facilities Tuesday after the federal holiday.”

“The FAA’s system that distributes critical flight safety alerts to pilots failed just days after the crash and forced the agency to rely on a backup system.”

There have been at least six fatal aviation incidents since Donald Trump became president, according to news reports and a search of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) database:

January 25, 2025: Charlottesville, VA
January 29, 2025: Potomac River Mid-Air Collision
January 31, 2025: Med Jets Flight 056 Crash (Philadelphia)
February 6, 2025: Bering Air Flight 445 Crash (Alaska)
February 10, 2025: Private Jet Crash in Scottsdale, Arizona
February 15, 2025: Small Plane Crash Near Covington, Georgia

That last crash came “just hours after ‘hundreds’ of pink slips were reportedly handed out at the agency,” The Daily Beast reported.

“Staffing decisions should be based on an individual agency’s mission-critical needs,” said David Spero, national president of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) told CNN. “To do otherwise is dangerous when it comes to public safety. And it is especially unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month.”

Critics are blasting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

“No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump,” charged U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) on Monday.

President Trump, meanwhile, amid the firings, on Sunday took a “taxpayer-funded Daytona 500 joyride” at a rained-out NASCAR race “as he guts [the] federal workforce,” The Independent, a UK-based news site, reported.

READ MORE: ‘United States of Extortion’: New Trump Ukraine ‘Shakedown’ Called ‘Cheap Mafia’ Move

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Monday morning asked: “The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?”

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, blasted the FAA firings:

“Mass firings of FAA workers – at a time when they already have serious staffing problems – would be dangerous at any time. Musk and Trump doing this weeks after the deadliest crash in years is stupid beyond belief.”

Professor of Public Policy Don Moynihan charged, “even after a bunch of accidents that highlighted FAA staffing shortages they still went ahead and fired FAA staff. They don’t know what they are doing.”

“You might have noticed that since Trump became President a number of aviation fatalities have occurred,” Moynihan wrote at “Can We Still Govern?”

“This happened after Musk pushed the head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, and Trump fired its safety advisory board. This likely had little direct effect on the crash at Reagan airport, but the crash highlighted staffing shortages, causing the Trump administration to tell FAA employees they could no longer apply for deferred resignation offer they had received days earlier. Safety first, it seemed,” he explained. “FAA employees therefore had some reason to believe that they would be exempt from the purge of probationary employees, but this is not the case.”

Jason King, a now-former FAA employee and disabled veteran who was laid off on Friday, told WUSA, “my unit directly with the FAA is directly involved with safety.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

A disabled veteran and former FAA employee was just laid off by the Trump administration. Now he’s sharing his concerns.

“The FAA is really already understaffed as it is. To cut people directly involved with safety, it’s concerning for public safety in our national airspace.” pic.twitter.com/2sy6Mtamcq

— Alexis Wainwright (@AWainwrightTV) February 16, 2025

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Image via Reuters