Complaint filed against Sessions, DOJ
Compiled from news services
PHILADELPHIA — Federal immigration judges filed a grievance Wednesday against Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice.
The complaint from the National Association of Immigration Judges comes after Mr. Sessions removed Judge Steven Morley from a high-profile immigration case in July and replaced him with a judge who ordered the immigrant in question swiftly deported.
The Justice Department has since removed more than 80 cases from Mr. Morley, who sits in Philadelphia.
The judge’s union wants the department to return the cases to Mr. Morley and publicly recognize that taking them away was improper.
Archive docs under seal
WASHINGTON— Senate Judiciary Committee member Dianne Feinstein sent a letter to archivist David S. Ferriero saying she is “alarmed” he is denying Democrats materials “necessary to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide advice” on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In a letter on Aug. 2, the archivist told Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that Democrats could not access the files on Mr. Kavanaugh’s work during George W. Bush’s administration because it wasn’t requested by Senate Judiciary chairman Charles E. Grassley.
California arson arrest
LOSANGELES — A man suspected of starting the Holy fire has been arrested, Cleveland National Forest officials said Wednesday.
Forrest Gordon Clark was arrested on suspicion of two counts of felony arson, one count of felony threat to terrorize and one count of misdemeanor resisting arrest.
The Holy fire, which has burned 4,129 acres in Southern California and was 5 percent contained as of Wednesday morning, broke out Monday and has destroyed 12 structures.
Macabre compound
TAOS,N.M. — A man, found last week with 11 children at a New Mexican compound, was training them to carry out school shootings, according to documents filed in court this week.
Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, who was wanted on suspicion of abducting his 4-year-old son, ran weapons training at the compound in Taos County, officials said.
Prosecutors are asking that Mr. Ibn Wahhaj be held without bail.
Four others were arrested with him when Taos County officials raided the property in Amalia, N.M., at the culmination of a long search for the missing child.
Chicago police force push
CHICAGO — After 74 people were shot over the weekend, Chicago police said they would flood the city with hundreds more cops. No arrests for those shootings had been made by late Tuesday.
A day prior, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Eddie Johnson pleaded with the community to come forward with information to hold people accountable for the carnage, including 12 fatalities.
The department’s struggle to solve violent crime or earn the cooperation of residents is not a new problem — nor one that will be solved quickly, said experts and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday.
Methane leak settlement
LOS ANGELES — A settlement has been reached over a Los Angeles storage complex where a massive methane leak forced thousands from their homes.
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti explained the deal Wednesday at a news conference with Southern California Gas Co.