(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Opening arguments in the trial of Christopher Schurr, the former Grand Rapids police officer who is charged with second degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, began in a Michigan courtroom on Monday morning. The trial began three years after the Black motorist’s death.
A jury was sworn in on Wednesday, with jurors and alternates consisting of four men and 10 women, with 10 white jurors, one Black and three Hispanic, according to ABC affiliate in Grand Rapids, WZZM.
Schurr was charged with second-degree murder in June 2022 and his appeal was denied by the Michigan Supreme Court in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty.
Schurr was charged with second-degree murder in June 2022 and pleaded not guilty. Schurr fought the charge in court, arguing that he should not have to stand trial because he was acting within his rights as a police officer. His final appeal was denied by the Michigan Supreme Court in December 2024.
Video appears to show Lyoya, a 26-year-old immigrant who came to the U.S. to escape violence in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo, being shot in the head by Schurr after the officer pulled him over for an unregistered license plate on April 4, 2022.
Body camera video, which was released nine days after the shooting, showed Schurr pulling Lyoya over for a license plate violation. When Lyoya began walking away from Schurr, the video shows the officer shouting at Lyoya to “get back in the car.” Then a struggle ensued between the two men during which the video appears to show Lyoya reaching for Schurr’s stun gun.
The body camera was deactivated during the struggle, according to police, and does not show the moment Shurr shot Lyoya. But the fatal shot is seen on cell phone video captured by the passenger of the vehicle.
The video appears to show Schurr telling Lyoya to let go of the stun gun several times, and while Lyoya is on the ground with his face down and Schurr on top of him, the officer appears to shoot Lyoya in the back of his head. The Kent County medical examiner confirmed Lyoya died from a gunshot to the back of his head.
Schurr was fired on June 15, 2022 amid an investigation into the incident.
After the charges were filed, Schurr’s attorneys told WZZM on June 10, 2022 that Lyoya’s death was “not murder but an unfortunate tragedy, resulting from a highly volatile situation.”
“Mr. Lyoya continually refused to obey lawful commands and ultimately disarmed a police officer,” they wrote in a statement. “Mr. Lyoya gained full control of a police officer’s weapon while resisting arrest, placing Officer Schurr in fear of great bodily harm or death.”
Lyoya’s family filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against Schurr and the city of Grand Rapids in December 2022. Schurr denied wrongdoing in a response to the complaint, and in August 2023 a federal judge dismissed Grand Rapids from the lawsuit.
ABC News reached out to Shurr’s attorneys and the family of Lyoya ahead of the trial for further comment.
Before the trial, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Schurr’s legal team’s request to hear an appeal in the lawsuit filed by Lyoya’s family against the former officer.
Schurr’s defense team asked the court to decide whether the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong in determining it could not consider qualified immunity for Schurr at the time of the killing, WZZM reported.
Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine that protects government officials and police officers from being found individually liable in civil lawsuits.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Karen Read’s petition for certiorari, and therefore will not review her case.
Read had asked the Supreme Court to intervene in her case, arguing double jeopardy after the jurors allegedly agreed on acquittal for two charges in her first trial.
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors allege Read hit O’Keefe with her vehicle and left him to die as Boston was hit with a major blizzard. Read has denied the allegations and maintained her innocence.
Testimony in Read’s retrial — now in its second week — resumed Monday morning with testimony from Ian Whiffin, a digital forensics examiner from Cellebrite.
The judge declared a mistrial in Read’s first trial last year after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on all of the counts.
She was charged with first-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She pleaded not guilty.
Read’s attorneys asked multiple appeals courts to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the retrial. They argued in court filings that retrying her on the charges would violate double jeopardy protections because, based on subsequent statements from four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit Read on the charges.
With the Supreme Court on Monday rejecting to hear her appeal, she’s run out of options.
Among the most dramatic testimony in the first week of the retrial was from O’Keefe’s mother, Margaret “Peggy” O’Keefe, who was not called to testify in Read’s first trial.
Peggy O’Keefe described her son as an “enthusiastic” fan of sports who was “wonderful” with his niece and nephew, for whom he provided primary guardianship following their parents’ untimely deaths.
“He was their No. 1,” she said, shakily, “They called him JJ.”
She sobbed when special prosecutor Hank Brennan showed a photo of her son smiling.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
(CLEARWATER, FL) — One person was killed and multiple people were injured when a boat struck the Clearwater Ferry in Clearwater, Florida, on Sunday evening.
All of the injured individuals were people on the ferry, according to the Clearwater Police Department.
There were 45 people aboard the ferry, including two crew members, when it was hit by a passing boat, police said.
“It’s been declared a mass casualty incident by the fire department due to the number of injuries. All local hospitals have been notified,” Clearwater PD wrote in a post on X on Sunday night.
“Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured,” the post continued.
The incident took place near the Memorial Causeway Bridge in Clearwater. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg was notified at approximately 8:40 p.m., the Seventh Coast Guard District wrote on X.
The boat that struck the ferry fled the scene, Clearwater PD said in a social media post on Sunday night.
After the crash, the ferry came to rest on a sand bar just south of the bridge. First responders and emergency personnel were then able to remove “all patients and passengers” from the ferry, police said.
“We were just enjoying the ride, and then all of a sudden we hear the first mate yelling, ‘Hey, hey, hey,'” one passenger told ABC affiliate WFTS in Tampa.
“And then we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat,” said the passenger, who was riding the ferry with his two kids and his wife, who is 31 weeks pregnant with the couple’s third child.
The Coast Guard says there were six people on board the recreational boat, which left the scene. Authorities said it was later found by a responding agency.
“The boat that fled the scene has been identified by another law enforcement agency,” Clearwater PD said. However, further details about the second vessel involved in the incident have not yet been made available.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will be taking the lead on the crash investigation, police said.
(ELIZABETH CITY, NC) — One person is dead and at least five others are injured after a shooting at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
According to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the shooting took place at 12:30 a.m. Sunday on the ECSU campus.
The incident occurred during Viking Fest — a week of events on the ESCU campus geared toward students, alumni and prospective students.
A press release from ECSU said four individuals sustained gunshot wounds and two students were injured during the chaos.
“Six individuals were injured during the incident. Four sustained gunshot wounds, including three ECSU students. Additionally, two other ECSU students were injured during the subsequent commotion,” the statement said. “Fortunately, none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, and all the injured were transported to a local hospital for treatment.”
A 24-year-old man not affiliated with the university was killed.
The SBI and ESCU Police continue to investigate. There is no confirmed suspect at this time.
ABC affiliate WVEC spoke with ESCU junior Paola Gonzalez, who was at the scene of the shooting.
Gonzalez said she turned around while running from the scene to see her volleyball teammate go down after being shot in the leg.
“One moment, we were having a really good time,” Gonzalez said. Shortly after, she was watching police surround her friend and tape being brought out to cordon off the scene.
As a precaution, ECSU has increased patrols across campus, and access to the center of campus will remain restricted throughout Sunday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Division via X
(COLORADO SPRINGS, CO) — The Drug Enforcement Administration said it detained more than 200 people — including members of the military — at an unlicensed underground nightclub in Colorado on Sunday, officials told ABC News.
Officials said among those that were detained were active-duty military members. DEA Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen said that alleged members of gangs, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13, were present at the venue.
At approximately 3:45 a.m. on Sunday, officials conducted a “multi-agency enforcement operation” at what they called an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division posted a video on X showing the operation underway on Sunday morning.
Of the hundreds of people inside the nightclub, at least 114 were migrants that DEA officials said were in the country illegally. They are now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Close to 300 people were inside the nightclub and 114 illegal migrants were taken into custody, with most from Central and South America, officials said.
“Drugs and weapons have also been seized at this underground nightclub,” the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division said on X.
The operation was led by the DEA and involved around 10 federal agencies along with the local sheriff’s department, officials said. The investigation took several months and included undercover operations, officials said.
Authorities said they used drones, a helicopter and an armored vehicle for the operation.
The Army confirmed that service members from Fort Carson, Colorado, were present at the club and that it is conducting a joint investigation with DEA.
The Army would not say how many service members were allegedly involved, whether any were arrested or remain in custody, or if they were charged.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Sunday that “cocaine, meth and pink cocaine was seized” during the operation, and that two people were arrested on existing warrants.
“As we approach his 100 days in office @POTUS Trump’s directive to make America safe again is achieving results!” Bondi said.
Officials said they also found evidence of prostitution and suspect human trafficking was at play at the nightclub.
Mike Moon, the property owner, told ABC Colorado Springs affiliate KRDO he had “no idea” what was happening in the space and the tenants’ lease was about to expire at the end of April.
“It’s shocking to me that in this political climate that something like this was even happening and that people thought this was a good idea to do something like this,” Moon said.
The space is an event center with a stage and a bar in the back, but there was no liquor license for the club, officials said.
There were no injuries to law enforcement, but one man suffered life-threatening injuries jumping out of a window trying to flee, officials told ABC News.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report
Columbia County Deputy Brandon Sikes, a crime suppression officer with the department since 2018, was killed during a standoff along Interstate 20, according to Columbia County Sheriff Clay N. Whittle on Sunday.
Sikes is survived by his wife, Amber, who is also an employee of the sheriff’s office in Columbia County, Georgia.
Another deputy, Gavin White, who is also a crime suppression offering, was shot during the incident and taken to the hospital for treatment, Whittle said.
The deadly encounter began Saturday afternoon around 6:30 p.m. when the two deputies attempted to serve a temporary protective order to a suspect identified as James Blake Montgomery. During the encounter, both deputies were shot.
Montgomery then barricaded himself inside an RV, police said.
Montgomery tried to drive away under fire, police said, and the RV crashed into a median barrier on I-20, westbound next Exit 194.
Law enforcement quickly surrounded the vehicle, they said, deploying drones and robots to assess the situation. Initially, they said, it was unclear whether Montgomery was alive inside.
After a prolonged standoff, Montgomery was found dead inside the motorhome, officials said. Sheriff’s officials, aided by local, state and federal agencies, discovered multiple pipe bombs and bomb-making materials inside the RV, including at least one device rigged with a remote switch, according to Whittle on Sunday.
Beneath the motorhome, investigators found several propane cylinders, raising concerns about the potential for a catastrophic explosion, the sheriff continued.
Deputy Andrew Brown was among those who engaged Montgomery during the firefight. Whittle credited Brown with saving the life of another wounded deputy, Gavin White, by dragging him across three patrol cars and driving him directly to Doctor’s Hospital while still under fire.
“Probably saving his life, according to the doctors,” Whittle said.
Authorities also recovered an illegally modified fully automatic AR-style rifle, numerous magazines, several handguns and boxes of ammunition from the motorhome, they said.
Investigators also found jars containing unknown liquids, which could be bomb-making materials or related to Montgomery’s previously known illegal steroid operation, Whittle added.
Both Sikes and Montgomery are undergoing autopsies at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Atlanta.
Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson posted a statement on Facebook on Saturday, saying, “Heartbroken and praying for the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and our neighbors in Columbia County. Our prayers are with the families of the fallen, the entire Sheriff’s Office, and all who are grieving this unimaginable loss. We honor their sacrifice and pray for the difficult days ahead.” Columbia County is situated within the Augusta-Richmond County metropolitan area.
Georgia Gov. Brian P. Kemp also shared a statement on X on Saturday, offering condolences and saying that he is “painfully reminded of why those who wear a badge have more than earned our enduring respect and appreciation.”
ABC News’ Mariama Jalloh contributed to this report.
(KANSAS CITY, MI) — In what officials called “a senseless act,” a paramedic Graham Hoffman, 29 years old, had been with the Kansas City Fire Department since 2022.
“Early Sunday morning, Firefighter Hoffman was critically injured after being stabbed in the chest, piercing his heart, while transporting a patient to a local hospital on what began as a routine medical call from the police,” a statement from the city said. “His partner immediately initiated a crew emergency.”
He was rushed to North Kansas City Hospital, where he died from his injuries, Fire Chief Ross Grundyson said.
“KCFD crews worked tirelessly to save Firefighter Hoffman’s life en route to North Kansas City Hospital,” the city’s statement added. “Lifesaving efforts continued in the emergency room before Graham was moved into surgery. Despite the heroic efforts … Firefighter Hoffman, succumbed to his injuries in the intensive care unit.”
Officials said the suspect was in custody on Sunday, but did not provide details.
“I expect and will demand justice,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said at a news conference on Sunday. “I never expected a line of duty death like this one.”
“Graham was a dedicated professional who loved serving his city,” the KCFD posted on Facebook. “He will be greatly missed.”
(OCEAN COUNTY, NJ) — Firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in New Jersey that has burned over 15,000 acres, with strong winds on Sunday complicating their efforts, officials said.
The Jones Road Wildfire, located in Ocean County, has burned 15,300 acres and is only 65% contained as of Sunday, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
The National Weather Service issued an “increased risk of rapid fire spread” for Sunday afternoon for portions of southern New Jersey. Minimum humidity values will be around 30% to 35%, combined with “northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with 30 to 40 mph gusts.”
Officials said these windy conditions are complicating the containment process for this wildfire, with the gusts causing already-burned trees to fall throughout the woods, creating serious hazards.
“The NJ State Forest Fire Service is again requesting for folks to stay out of the woods that were affected,” the Lacey Township Police Department said in a statement on Sunday. “It’s a dangerous combination of fire and wind.”
Firefighter operations will continue for the “next several days” due to these powerful winds, officials said.
The NWS said the wind should “diminish fairly rapidly by early this evening.”
The New Jersey State Forest Service is urging the public to avoid fire-affected wooded areas, warning of dangerous conditions. The NWS also said outdoor burning is “strongly discouraged” during this time.
Trace amounts of rain fell over the southern portion of the fire on Saturday, and precipitation that “varied in amount” hit the northern section of the flames. Crews are “currently mopping up hotspots and patrolling the fire perimeter,” the forest fire service said.
So far, one commercial building and multiple outbuildings and vehicles were destroyed by flames, with a complete damage assessment underway, officials said.
Officials said they will provide more updates on the fire’s containment on Monday afternoon.
The Jones Road Wildfire was first spotted at approximately 9:45 a.m. on April 22 in the Greenwood Wildlife Management area in Waretown, New Jersey, officials said.
A 19-year-old man, Joseph Kling of Waretown, was arrested on suspicion of starting the fire and charged with second-degree aggravated arson for allegedly purposely destroying a forest; and third-degree arson for allegedly recklessly endangering buildings or structures, New Jersey officials announced on Thursday.
Kling was arrested after investigators determined the fire to be “incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire,” officials said.
The origin of the fire, according to investigators, is near the Waretown address the Kling listed as his home.
During his first court appearance on Thursday afternoon, Kling did not enter a plea to the charges. A detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
ABC News’ Jason Volack and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Friday said he has a strong suspicion that the Trump administration deported a 2-year old U.S. citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process.”
The U.S. citizen, identified in the filings as “V.M.L” was initially detained with her undocumented mother and sister at a routine immigration check-in in New Orleans earlier this week. After the father of the 2-year old learned that his family was detained, his lawyer called immigration officials to inform them that V.M.L is a U.S. citizen and could not be deported, according to court documents.
“Around 7:30 p.m. the same day, V.M.L.’s father received a call from an ICE officer, who spoke to him for about a minute,” according to a court filing submitted by the father’s attorney. “The officer said that V.M.L.’s mother was there, and that they did not have much time to speak to each other and that they were going to deport his partner and daughters.”
According to the court filing, when the father reached out to an official for Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, he was told that he could try to pick up V.M.L but that he would also be taken into custody.
On Thursday, an attorney for a family friend, who had been given temporary provisional custody of the child, filed for a temporary restraining order, requesting the immediate release of the 2-year-old, saying she was suffering irreparable harm by being detained.
In response to that motion, lawyers with the Justice Department said it was in the best interest of the minor that she remain in legal custody of her mother and added that she was not at “risk of irreparable harm because she is a U.S. citizen.”
“V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the United States,” the DOJ lawyers said in the court filing.
Before the court responded to the habeas petition and a motion for temporary restraining order, the 2-year old, along with her mother and sister, were deported to Honduras, according to court filings.
“That family filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order, which was never ruled on because of their rapid early-morning deportation,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
The ACLU said that the 2-year old and two other U.S. citizen children in a separate case, were deported from the U.S. “under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns.”
In his April 25 order, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty said he tried to reach the 2-year-old’s mother over the phone, to ascertain whether she, in fact, wanted her child deported with her, as the government had contended, but was told by government attorneys that wouldn’t be possible because the mother had just been released in Honduras.
Doughty scheduled a hearing in the case for May 16, saying he was taking the step in “the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
(MILWAUKEE) — The federal government announced two separate arrests Friday of a current judge and a former judge alleged to have assisted undocumented immigrants who authorities claim were violent criminals, moves that have raised red flags among Democrats and others.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested Friday by the FBI over allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest last week. Her arrest took place hours after federal authorities arrested former New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife Nancy Cano for allegedly housing a Venezuelan national with reported gang ties, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Bondi spoke with ABC News Live’s Kyra Phillips Friday afternoon to discuss the cases and dismissed critics who accused the Trump administration of intimidating judges who oppose their crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
“Nobody is above the law, not even a judge,” Bondi told Philips.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Judge Dugan’s arrest earlier Friday in a social media post, which was briefly deleted and reposted.
“Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week,” Patel said in the new post. “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest.”
Dugan was charged with two criminal counts of “obstructing and impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States” and “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.
County court records show the undocumented immigrant in the Milwaukee case — Eduardo Flores-Ruiz — was set to appear in court on April 18 before Dugan for a pretrial conference in a case where he has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery/domestic abuse connected to an incident on March 12. The case is ongoing.
Federal prosecutors allege Flores-Ruiz illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico and was issued an Expedited Removal order in January 2013, according to a criminal complaint.
Bondi alleged that Flores-Ruiz beat his roommate and a woman so badly that they needed to be hospitalized and that he continued to be belligerent in the hospital before his arrest.
According to the complaint, Dugan allegedly sought to help Flores-Ruiz evade arrest by federal officers from an ICE task force.
When Judge Dugan learned ICE officers were present in court to arrest Flores-Ruiz, she became “visibly angry” and said the situation was “absurd” before leaving the bench and entering her chambers, according to the complaint, which cited witnesses who spoke to the FBI.
Dugan and another unidentified judge then allegedly approached the arrest team in the public hallway, according to the complaint. She was “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor” and asked one of the officers whether they were present for a court appearance, the complaint alleged.
When the officer replied they were there to make an arrest, the complaint alleges Judge Dugan asked if they had a judicial warrant, to which the officer responded, “No I have an administrative warrant.”
Multiple witnesses cited in the complaint later allegedly said Judge Dugan returned to her courtroom after directing members of the arrest team to the office of the court’s chief judge.
“The courtroom deputy then saw Judge DUGAN get up and heard Judge DUGAN say something like ‘Wait, come with me,'” the complaint states. “Despite having been advised of the administrative warrant for the arrest of Flores-Ruiz, Judge DUGAN then escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom through the ‘jury door,’ which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse.”
“So she continues, continues with her docket, finishes her docket. Two victims sit in court all morning long waiting and at the end. The prosecutors say ‘What happened? Why didn’t the case get called?'” Bondi said.
A DEA agent saw Flores-Ruiz and his attorney in the public hallway of the courthouse and he appeared to be making efforts to evade arrest, the complaint says. After he was encountered by FBI and DEA agents outside the building, Flores-Ruiz “turned around and sprinted down the street” before he was ultimately apprehended, according to the complaint.
Dugan was arrested Friday morning at the courthouse, a law enforcement official confirmed to ABC News.
She appeared in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin on Friday on the two charges, but did not enter a plea. She was released on her own recognizance.
Dugan retained former United States Attorney Steven Biskupic to represent her and he said in a statement that the judge will “defend herself vigorously and looks forward to being exonerated.”
“Judge Hannah C. Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge,” Biskupic said in a statement.
If convicted on the charges, Dugan could face up to six years in prison.
Bondi responded to the statement by stating that everyone is entitled to their day in court but reiterated that so are victims of crimes.
“They didn’t get it because she let a criminal defendant walk out a door. She helped them. She obstructed justice,” Bondi told Phillips.
Judge Dugan’s arrest angered Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who accused the federal agents of “showboating” and contended Dugan was not a flight risk.
“They’re just trying to have this show of force and in the process of a courthouse where people need to go for court proceedings, they’re scaring away people from participating in the court process,” the mayor told reporters.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, in a statement on Friday afternoon, criticized President Donald Trump and the White House for what he said were efforts “to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level.”
Evers said he would continue to have faith in the justice system “as this situation plays out in the court of law.” He did not mention Dugan by name.
In an interview Friday, Phillips asked AG Bondi if she thought the government’s actions were intimidating people in the court system, but she dodged the question.
“We’re attempting to protect citizens, make America safe again,” she said.
Bondi brought up the New Mexico case, where former Judge Joel Cano faces a charge of tampering with evidence.
Court documents allege that on Feb. 28, an alleged Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member was arrested at the Canos’ residence.
On April 24, agents served a search warrant at their residence and conducted an interview with Cano where he admitted to destroying a cell phone that belonged to the alleged gang member by smashing it with a hammer and throwing it in the trash, according to the complaint and Bondi.
“Cano stated that he destroyed the cellphone and further admitted that he believed the cellphone contained photos or videos that would reflect negatively on Ortega,” the complaint states. “Through further questioning, agents ascertained that … Cano destroyed the cellphone believing that it contained photographs of Ortega holding firearms that Ortega had uploaded onto social media platforms which would be additional incriminating evidence against him.”
Cano and his wife have not yet entered pleas in their cases, according to court records, and did not immediately have defense attorneys listed for them.
Bondi reiterated that the immigrants connected to the judges were allegedly violent.
Phillips again pushed Bondi about the arrests, asking if there was concern that the federal government was just going after judges, but the AG maintained that the charges were serious.
“Those are the people that have to be arrested and taken out of our country. Doesn’t matter who you are, no one can harbor them, not even a judge,” she said.
Phillips questioned how far the government was willing to go to arrest undocumented immigrants, and if that meant that mayors and governors could be targeted.
Bondi appeared to dodge the question and reiterated that the administration’s goal is to keep people safe.
“I would hope a mayor, I would hope a governor would never harbor anyone,” she said.
