Janie Har, Author at The Rapid City Post

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Hagerstown Regional Airport, in Hagerstown, Md., on his was to Camp David, Md., Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Judge blocks administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders

June 9, 2025

A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders that LGBTQ+ rights organizations say are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said that the grant funding provisions reflected an attempt to censor constitutionally protected speech and services. Several nonprofit groups serving LGBTQ+ health care sued President Donald Trump in February. They are challenging the legality of two orders eliminating DEI programs and one eliminating the existence of transgender people. Government lawyers say that the president is permitted to “align government funding and enforcement strategies” with his policies.

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) conducts a replenishment at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 13, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky/U.S. Navy via AP))

San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk’s name from ship

June 4, 2025

Leaders in San Francisco are blasting the Trump administration for stripping the name of gay icon Harvey Milk from a U.S. naval ship. Milk is a revered figure in San Francisco history. He was a city supervisor who was fatally shot along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Just last month, California marked what would have been Milk’s 95th birthday with proclamations heralding his kindness and calls for unity. Milk’s close friend Cleve Jones called the move an attempt by the Republican administration to distract the public from more serious issues.

Employees work inside a franchise of "Sabor Venezolano," one of 18 businesses owned by Wilmer Escaray which employ scores of Venezuelan immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who are now potentially exposed to deportation, in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Judge blocks administration from revoking protected status for small subset of Venezuelans

June 2, 2025

A federal judge says an estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court’s order. The Supreme Court last month gave the go-ahead for the Republican administration to strip TPS from an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans, exposing them to possible deportation. Chen’s court continues to hear the underlying claim that the revocations by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were unlawful.

FILE - A person carries a sign in support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) workers, as they carry their personal belongings after retrieving them from the USAID's headquarters in Washington, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Appeals court keeps block on Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce

May 30, 2025

An appeals court is keeping in place a court block on the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce. The order was issued Friday. The Republican administration had sought an emergency stay of a California judge’s order freezing personnel reductions and reorganizations. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said voters gave him a mandate to remake a federal government he calls bloated and expensive. But U.S. Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco said the president must get the cooperation of Congress to do so. The Trump administration has previously appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Cindy McPherson, with the Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity, listens to speakers during a news conference and rally by immigrant justice organizations and advocates to protest ICE arrests in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Immigrant rights advocates rally against ICE courthouse arrests in San Francisco

May 28, 2025

Immigrant rights advocates rallied outside San Francisco’s immigration court to condemn the Trump administration’s latest deportation tactics. At a rally Wednesday, they also implored asylum-seekers and other migrants trying to stay in the United States to keep their court dates despite possible detention by ICE agents. Advocates say eight people were arrested in the San Francisco and Concord immigrant courthouses Tuesday. They say lawyers are on standby and volunteers are available to accompany people to their hearings. They say immigrants who skip out on hearings are often subject to a removal order and deportation. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FILE - A group of Florida International University students protest against cuts in federal funding and an agreement by campus police to partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on the FIU campus on a day of protests around the country in support of higher education, April 17, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

Federal judge blocks immigration authorities from revoking international students’ legal status

May 22, 2025

A judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations plays out. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White on Thursday barred the government from reversing the students’ legal status, arresting or transferring them until the case is resolved. They could still be arrested in cases like violent crimes. White said the government’s actions “wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so.” More than 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the U.S. canceled this spring and then abruptly reinstated.

Janie Har.

Judge blocks administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders

San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk’s name from ship

Judge blocks administration from revoking protected status for small subset of Venezuelans

Appeals court keeps block on Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce

Immigrant rights advocates rally against ICE courthouse arrests in San Francisco

Federal judge blocks immigration authorities from revoking international students’ legal status

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