Gov. Abbott: Illegal Immigration Now a State Crime in Texas

This is Jay Sekulow, Texas.

Governor Abbott signs a new law making illegal immigration a state crime in Texas, keeping you informed and engaged. Now, more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jay Sekulow. We're going to take your calls on this at 1-800-684-3110. And talking about calls, I want to ask our donors that are out there, because we want to hear from you too. I'm talking a lot about immigration, a lot of international issues, a lot of the cases of the ACLJ. But I'd also like to hear from you that are supporting the American Center for Law and Justice and why you do it. I think it's very good for our listeners and viewers to find out why you are standing with the American Center for Law and Justice. So we're going to open up our phone lines.

We don't always do this. We're going to open them up now. And you can call us at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 800-684-3110. You could also tell us what issues are the most important to you. I'm going to start with one that has been important to us, and that is the issue of border security.

Let me say this. At the ACLJ, we've been fighting for securing our borders for a long time. We believe in legal immigration. I'm the grandson of immigrants to the United States of America that came from Russia and Poland back in 1914. So we're a nation of immigrants, but it has to be done legally.

It has to be done according to the law. And right now, that's just not the case. And it's not the case because the immigration system is broken, but also our border security is—and this is not the fault of the Customs and Border Patrol. They are so overwhelmed.

I mean, it's breathtaking to the nature of how overwhelmed they are. Let me just give you yesterday's statistics. So I'm not talking about the last three months. I'm not talking about the last three weeks. I'm not talking about the last three days. I'm not talking about the last 36 hours.

I'm talking about yesterday. Apprehensions, 12,600. It is a single-day record. It's a much higher number because all migrants present were not processed fast enough. It breaks the 12,000 record for a day, which was just set two weeks ago. On top of that, 2.3 million apprehensions.

Let me give you that number again. 2.3 million apprehensions in the last 12 months, most ever recorded. It's up 37% from 2022. Now, Texas has just signed a new law.

It's SB4. And that law goes into effect on March 24th, and it authorizes Texas to criminalize illegal migration into the United States. How that plays out legally, it's going to be interesting because the fact is that Arizona had a similar law.

The Supreme Court struck it down. But this issue of immigration and border security is gigantic. So again, I want to hear from you, 1-800-684-3110, on all of these topics. We also want to know why you support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice. And in that regard, your support of the ACLJ and our fight for faith and freedom is now reaching the final 11 days of the month.

It's the busiest time of year. We had a victory over in the National Archives when they banned pro-life students from wearing their pro-life apparel during the March for Life. Students forced to read explicitly obscene scripts. Those depositions took place in that case this last week. We forced another senior living center to allow Bible study to again meet.

We've got another one where they're saying you can't put Christmas decorations on the door. We're defending Israel, of course, as you know, across the globe in its greatest hour of need. I just got off a call on that, and that work is going to grow exponentially after the first of the year on the legal issues because there's a lot of legal issues now popping up.

And of course, as I mentioned on yesterday's broadcast, there are multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases on government overeat, election integrity, and the life issue. That's what we've been engaged in this week, and it's only Tuesday. But we can't do all of this vital work without your support. Let me encourage you, this is our biggest financial month of the year. It sets our budgets for next year. We're just about even with last December. We really want to pull ahead, but we're running a little over a million dollars behind our annual goal. So that's where we need to be. So this is it. Any amount you donate right now is going to be doubled.

It's your last chance in the next few days for this match to take place. We need your support at ACLJ.org. Every gift, large or small, makes a huge difference. Donate today at ACLJ.org.

And if you can make that a monthly gift, you become an ACLJ champion. That really helps us out. Well, welcome back to the broadcast, everyone. We're joined by our senior advisor, Rick Grinnell. And Rick, we're talking about the really troubling situation at the southern border.

You were the director of national intelligence, so you know this firsthand. 12,600 apprehensions, not last week, not for the month, Monday. I mean, yesterday. That's how many there were. It was a single-day record.

It breaks the 12,000 record set two weeks ago. 2.3 million apprehensions in the last 12 months and no idea how many gotaways. I need to point out that, and you know this, Rick, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request about the terrorism issue at the border. And we had to go to federal court against Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol.

That lawsuit has been filed and we are starting to get documents on it. We did find out that basically the government did not want to post, it's the Customs and Border Patrol, Rick, posted that they apprehended these two, I think it was Yemeni terrorists that were on the terror watch list. They were proud of that.

They protected America's homeland, which was great. FBI wanted that down. It didn't fit the narrative. We got the emails that say it's exactly that. That's not what the FBI wants out there. How serious is this first, and then your reaction on the CBD thing, but let's talk about the seriousness of the border issue right now. Well, first of all, I'm not surprised that you have intelligence agencies trying to cover up the very serious problem of terrorists coming into America.

Think about that. The FBI did not want the public to know that the policy is failing. The FBI did not want the public to know that we are at risk. This is so outrageous, and I don't understand why someone in Congress doesn't immediately hold Ray to account.

Bring Christopher Ray in and ask him those very specific questions, why are you trying to hide this serious problem from the public? The public needs to know. We all see that this border is wide open.

We see the videos every single day. Newsmax, Fox News, so many people have been to the border. We even now have the governor of Arizona, the very left-wing governor, Katie Hobbs, who is saying, this is a problem. The Democratic policy is not working. Now, Jay, what's really interesting is she ran for office saying the border wasn't that big of a deal.

She didn't know, she didn't realize, or she covered it up. Now that she's in charge and she sees this incredible problem, she's calling out her own party telling Joe Biden he's not doing enough and asking for more money for help. This is unbelievable what Washington DC is doing, sticking their head in the sand, ignoring the rest of America and this problem.

Mayor Adams in New York admitted that he underestimated the migrant impact, warns of an extremely painful New York City budget crisis. Lawmakers have encouraged by border security talks, but timing of the deal is uncertain. These are the headlines you're reading. It's like this problem that they will not address, but the reality is it's causing, it is really every state, every city now is a border state, and every state is a border state, and every city is a border city.

Let's also just be very clear about one thing. They knew it was a problem. They were ignoring it because they thought that politically it would benefit them with people by pretending to be this nice entity that's allowing people to come into our country. But as soon as the politics changed, as soon as independents and others, even Democrats started saying, wait a minute, there's a lot of people coming across our border and they could be terrorists and look at these problems, they flipped. All these Democrats flipped because of politics. They ignored it first because of politics.

Now they're embracing it because of politics. One of the things, Rick, that we've asked our donors is why they're supporting the work of the American Center for Law and Justice, and border security always ranges as a very high priority list for people. Let's get Dan on the phone. Hey, Dan, welcome to the broadcast.

You're on the air calling from Oregon. Hi, Dan. Hi. Go ahead, please. All right, we'll come back to Dan.

Dan, we're going to come back to Dan. I think we were having a little bit of an echo, but Rick, the border security issue always isn't near the top of the list. Life issues, obviously big Israel border, but they're almost neck and neck as far as importance goes. So my concern here is there is no Biden plan. Look, one of the reasons why I think people need to support ACLJ and the work that we do specifically on the border is because the border problem is one that's being covered up by the federal government.

It's one that is the politics are being played by politicians. And what we are able to do is push back, dig in on these FOIA requests, hold them to account, catch them covering up this problem. We all know that the border is a problem. The politicians know it's a problem, but they're covering it up in Washington, D.C. And if you don't have organizations that just don't take them at face value, right, we're doing the job of journalists, the job that journalists should be doing, which is digging deep, holding them to account, cornering them with their own words, and then taking them to court.

This is the solution now. You know, we hear a lot about lawfare. The fight is in the courts.

Absolutely. And as I said, I'll put it back on the screen, American Center for Law and Justice versus Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I will say this, though, Rick, that even though the United States Customs and Border Protection is a defendant, they have been very cooperative. They have given us documents, which has showed what was going on here. So I want to be clear there.

I really appreciate the work of our border agents. Let's try Dan again. Dan, go ahead.

You're on the air. You know, I just felt like God led me to donate to you guys. I saved all of my Christmas tips throughout the season. And then last year, I just felt like what you guys are doing, the first one was the guys from the FBI that started it. But, you know, everything else, it just, it seems like it just keeps piling on. And I'm thankful that that's where I felt like God wanted them. You know, you guys got half and then pregnancy resource got the other half. So it was all a great thing, you know, for blessing. But I really, I just felt like that's the prayer that was answered.

Yeah. Dan, I appreciate, listen, we appreciate you calling in and saying that. And Rick, we're hearing this from thousands of our members and donors from around the country, especially in being able to gauge these agencies the way we are so aggressively. Well, what Dan said was perfect. He feels like this is just piling on. Those were his exact words.

And I'm with Dan. I mean, it feels like the government's not listening to us. It feels like many of our leaders, even in our own party, are ignoring us. They're not seeing what we're seeing, high gas prices and open border chaos in the world to wars. People just feel like it's all piling on and they want to be able to do something.

They want to be able to fight back. And I think what ACLJ is doing is showing that we're not just complaining about these on air. We're actually hiring lawyers. We're doing the hard work of detailed long term pushing within the government to corner them, out them, and then try to hold them to account through the courts. Rick, we really appreciate your comments. We really appreciate you being part of the team here. Folks, we have people like Rick Grenell, former member of the cabinet, 10 years experience at the United Nations because of your support of the ACLJ. It would not happen without you. So, Rick, again, thank you for being with us.

Appreciate your comments as always. Folks, I've got to say this. You look at the team that we've assembled here at the American Center for Law and Justice. You've got the expertise you just heard from Rick Grenell, former director of national intelligence, former ambassador to Germany, former chief spokesperson of the United Nations for the United States. Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state, former director of the CIA.

Tulsi Gabbard, former member of the United States Congress, currently a colonel of the United States Army. I mean, you look at the team that's been assembled here and then you see the people that we have here as part of our studio set every single day. None of this happens. This broadcast doesn't happen. The cases don't happen. Defending those whistleblowers don't happen. None of that happens.

Making sure that you can vote for the candidate of your choice, which we talked about in the broadcast yesterday, in 15 cases around the country right now. None of that happens without you. Defending the student in Utah on her mother. Without you, that doesn't happen. Defending life at the Supreme Court or the state courts now where these challenges are.

Without you, that doesn't happen. I could tell you that it also impacts right down to the person that wants to have a Christmas display on the door of their senior center where they live and they're being told, and I'm reading you the exact language folks, a single decorative item is permitted, but items of inappropriate or objectionable nature include but are not limited to political and religious statements at Christmas and Hanukkah. So we've sent out a letter to them. Their due date to response is today.

If not, federal court it goes. Now I'm happy to report that we had another matter, very similar result. But again, without your support, this doesn't happen. So let me ask you to do this folks. We're in our faith and freedom drive. We are about a million dollars off from our real goal here.

And that's where you come in. Any amount you donate is going to be doubled. It's tax deductible.

And it allows us to continue to grow the organization and defend people here in the United States and around the globe. The next 12 days are your last chance to have your tax deductible gifts doubled for this year. We need your support through our year-end drive.

This is, as I said, the most important month of the year. And that's any gift, large or small. Average gift that we get at the ACLJ, $33. Now there were two days ago, we had two people who gave $7,500 each independent of each other. By the way, that became collectively $30,000 because they were matched. So whether it's a one-time gift or if it's a monthly gift and you become an ACLJ champion, whatever it is, it makes a huge difference.

Just go to ACLJ.org forward slash faith and freedom. You can donate there. And again, it's matched, it's tax deductible. If you can start donating monthly, I realize if you're making a large gift, you can't do that monthly. But if you can make a monthly gift, you become an ACLJ champion. And that's how we build out our special project program. And we'll get more into that later in the broadcast.

But do that at ACLJ.org. Back with more. Hey, welcome back to the broadcast, everyone. We're taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110.

Part of what I asked you to do is tell us why you're supporting the work of the ACLJ. I just want to let you know, I was on a call this morning with my colleagues, our colleagues in Israel on both the hostage matter and what looks like is going on up north where they're expecting an increased engagement from Hezbollah. Hezbollah has 10 times the rocket power at least, maybe 20 times the rocket power of Hamas. 150,000 Israelis that live in the northern portion of Israel have already moved more towards Jerusalem. So they've vacated their homes.

That's how dangerous that situation is. And then you now have a US-led coalition of 10 nations. I think, by the way, this is something the Biden administration has done right. They've got a coalition of 10 nations to counter the Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. The British have ships there as well.

I think the French are moving in some of their special aircraft. So again, this is exactly why we appreciate you supporting the work of the ACLJ because it allows us to work on all of these issues. I'm also taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110.

And part of what we want to know is why are you supporting the work of the ACLJ and what are the issues that matter to you? I'm going to go right to the phones. Let me go to Esther in Louisiana. And again, if you want to talk to us on air, 1-800-684-3110. Esther, you're watching on Facebook. Go ahead. You're on the air.

Yes. I have quit completely watching the news because I don't believe in them. I watch you all for my news. And I started giving because y'all believe in the same things that I do more wise.

Everything that I've been taught growing up, you believe in. The First Amendment, abortion, against abortion, just everything that y'all do, I feel like I don't have a voice. And me giving to y'all gives me a voice. Esther, part of what we've tried to do is be an amplifier. When we do these petition drives at the ACLJ and you'll end up with 400,000, 500,000, sometimes more names on a petition, collectively, it makes a difference.

It gives a much louder voice. And I appreciate what you said about getting news from us. Now, look, this broadcast, and a lot of you are watching right now on our social media platforms, a lot of you are listening in your cars or at work or on Sirius XM, wherever you get it.

I mean, we're on a lot of different digital platforms. This happens because of the support of people like Esther. So Esther, I want to say thank you to you and many, many others that are listening right now and supporting the work of the ACLJ, because we really could not do this without you. And again, we're keeping our phone lines open at 1-800-684-3110. Let's go to Arnold, who's in Texas, and take his call. Hi, Arnold. Hello?

Yes, sir, you're on the air. All right. I'm calling because of all this talk about the border, the southern border, Texas, Arizona, California. I live... My home is about eight miles from an international bridge here in Texas to Mexico. And I have yet to ever see thousands of people anywhere crossing these rivers or bridges.

Usually it's under 100 type groups. Well, let me give you the border patrol's number, just so you know. This is coming from the... This is custom and border patrol. This isn't from any news agency.

This is from them. 12,600 apprehensions yesterday at the southern border. So Arnold, you're... Maybe you're in an area where they've been able to lock it down more, but 12,600 yesterday, 2.3 million apprehensions in the last 12 months. That's up 37% from 2022. This is the number of the customs and border patrol. That's their number.

And that, by the way, does not include getaways. So maybe fortunately you're in an area where it's in better shape, great. But for the rest of the country, this is really tough. And by the way, we're taking action on all this. We've got a lawsuit going.

Let's put it up on the screen. This is a lawsuit we've got with the customs and border patrol. Although they've been very cooperative, but Homeland Security, not so much, and certainly not the FBI, and immigration and customs enforcement.

So there it is. I also need to tell you this, that when you look at the work of the ACLJ, and we're talking about the Israel situation, we have probably right now 10 lawyers, three or four government affairs people working on this full-time. We're on calls every morning, representing hostage families, getting ready for activities that may take place or will take place. Already at the UN, those are already taking place. We've already been filing at the United Nations. And then of course, legal work that we're doing that we believe the ICC will getting engaged with, we have already notified the office of the prosecutor that we believe Hamas clearly has violated international law and they should be investigated immediately. We'll see what he does or doesn't do. I hold out some hope only because he was in Israel and he saw the tragedy and the suffering. And nobody likes what's going on.

I mean, this is a horrific situation right now. And unfortunately, I think it's going to get more, based on my calls this morning, I think it's going to get more complex. Now I'm heading to DC tomorrow. So I've got meetings with Israeli leaders to get a handle on a lot of this and get a kind of a framework. I'll report back to everybody. I won't be on the broadcast tomorrow. Jordan will be hosting tomorrow.

But Thursday, I'll give a report back, but I'm going to be there with a number of our team going up to handle this. But folks, you got to understand something. This is an evolving situation that the resources involved on an internet. I was just on the phone with Gregor Pupinik, who heads up our European Center for Law and Justice. They just spent nine days in Brussels, in Strasbourg, and in Paris.

They're now looking at, in mid-January, London and Madrid. So you got to understand. And their offices get involved. Four or five people from those offices get involved. There's pictures.

Let's put, if we have several pictures, we'll put them up. These were the meetings. This is the delegation, including our European colleagues, as well as our Israeli colleagues.

You see them there in Brussels, or that's in Paris, actually. They're there at the European Parliament, where they're making a presentation. That's Gregor, the head of our ECLJ, did an eloquent job of representing the cause there.

These are trained professional experts. And we're able to do this kind of work on a global scale. I mean, you're really seeing, those that are watching are seeing it.

I'm describing it to you for those listening. But this is at the European Parliament. This is also in France, at the General Assembly. This is work that goes on to defend people's lives. People's lives are on the line. We take these cases seriously.

Look, we've lost a couple of the hostages. We've talked about that, of our family members, in the families we represent. And the notes I've got back from those family members that lost those families, saying we are still fighting for those that are still alive. And we have to do the same thing.

So folks, let me just tell you to do this. I want you to support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice. And I want you to support the work of the ECLJ, because you're also supporting the European Center for Law and Justice. You're supporting the ECLJ in Jerusalem. You're supporting the ECLJ offices around the United States. You're supporting our offices in places we don't talk about. And that happens because of your support of the American Center for Law and Justice.

So let me be clear. We are in the most important 11, 12 days of our month, is right now. And your donations are doubled in our faith and freedom drive. And we cannot do it without you. If you appreciate this broadcast, if you appreciate the specials that we put out, the content we put out, the legal work that's being done, the government of...

I always keep saying, I wish I had a camera in the studio right now. You see how many people are in there working on this broadcast right now. So you have the most up-to-date information. Support the work of the ECLJ. Your donations are tax deductible. They will be doubled.

They're matched at ACLJ.org. If you're able to give a monthly gift, you become an ECLJ champion. We started with 15,000. We're over 18,000. We want to get to 18,500 by the end of this month, people supporting the ECLJ monthly. And then by this time next year, I want to be able to announce to you that we have 30,000.

And I believe we can get there at ACLJ.org. So your support, if you're a champion, just means you're donating monthly. We really, really appreciate it.

But if you're not in that position, totally understand. If you're able to give, whatever amount you can give, we appreciate it. We've gotten some large gifts, but like I said, the average gift is $33.

We get some larger ones as well. ACLJ.org. A whole another half hour of the broadcast coming up. Stay tuned. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jay Sekulow. Hey, welcome back to the broadcast, everyone. We talked a lot about immigration issues and victories at the ACLJ. I've asked you to call in and tell us why you support the work at the ACLJ. I think it's important for our members and people that are listening to this broadcast to hear. We're going to go right back to the phones at 1-800-684-3110. Patty is calling from the District of Columbia, Washington, DC. Patty, welcome to Broadcaster on the Air. Hi. I'm in Northern Virginia, not that close to the swamp, but close enough.

Northern Virginia, you're pretty darn close, but go ahead. inundated with news to the point of bringing me to tears. I feel so powerless. In the only place I feel that I have any power is listening to you guys.

I am an ACLJ champion, gladly, because I do feel things are happening and getting done with my investment and my small investment. But thank you. Thank you for all that you do. I am so grateful for you guys. Patty, well, thank you. And let me tell you this.

You mentioned that you're an ACLJ champion. This is something that's been on our heart for a while. And we decided in October, we were going to really launch this. And let me tell you why we did it. We get hit with special cases, as you know, whether it's all these election cases that started going up or the whole situation in Israel. So you have your budget and then it's like, okay, then these other things start happening and you got to figure out how you're going to handle it.

Because we don't like saying no to cases. So we decided to really concentrate on building up our monthly donor support, our monthly ACLJ champions. And we started out with about 15,000. I think it was right at 15,000, right?

Well, maybe a little bit shy of that in October. And we figured, hey, if we could add 1,000 a month, well, next year we'd be at close to 30,000. So we're approaching 18,100 right now, I believe is the number right around there.

I actually got the exact number. 18,057 is how many champions we have right now. We want to end the year, Patty, just like you did with 18,500 people.

That means another 400 or so, 450 that are standing with us each month. And then we're going to try to build on that every month so that by this time next year, maybe we're close to 30,000 ACLJ champions. And that'll have a real impact on our work. So I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org, become an ACLJ champion if you're able to and support our work. But let me tell you something about this work. And that is we talk about these Supreme Court cases.

We talk about the global cases, the International Criminal Court in The Hague. But let me tell you about our client, a resident at a complex, senior complex, began a weekly gathering over two years ago after recognizing a number of residents could not drive to churches in their senior housing. So during this gathering, a Christian message would be delivered to the residents, kind of like a little worship service. Following the message, our client would end the meeting by taking prayer requests and praying with fellow attendees. An anonymous complaint was given to the complex management. Our client's use of the community rumor was prohibited, quote, due to its Christian message and prayer. That's what it was done.

When our client approached management about it, we responded in writing. Of course, we've seen an alarming number of them increase. Now, we're getting a lot of them resolved. Some may have to go to court, some don't. But I want to take it down to that level of case so you understand what we're doing here at the ACLJ. It's not just the Supreme Court in the United States or the Supreme Court of Colorado or the International Criminal Court in The Hague or this giant case. It's a person that is getting the same lawyers that represent, that represented a President to help them in their struggle. And that's where you come in, just like Patty and her phone call.

I really appreciate it, Patty calling. It really means a lot to us at the ACLJ. So I want to encourage you to support our work at the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We are in our faith and freedom drive. We're in the last 12 days, folks, so this is when it really counts.

And we're up against some big numbers from last year, and we're about a million dollars off from where we want to be. So let me encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. Any amount you donate will be matched. We got some large gifts yesterday. We really appreciate that. We've got a lot of gifts that were $30 a month.

Those are large gifts for some people too, and we appreciate that. And if you could make that a monthly gift, you become an ACLJ champion like Patty, and that helps us with these special projects. So let me encourage you again, go to ACLJ.org and become an ACLJ member. By joining the ACLJ, you just make a donation. You're a member of the ACLJ, ACLJ.org. Also check out all of our social media, Facebook, Twitter, of course, Rumble and all the other platforms we're on. We encourage you to do that.

Back with more when we come back. Again, ACLJ.org, support the work of the ACLJ. You want to talk to us on air, 800-684-3110. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the broadcast.

We're taking your calls at 800-684-3110. Joining me in the studio right now is our senior counsel, Abby Sutherland, who's going to give us some updates on cases before we do... Well, actually, let's do an update on case, then we're going to go to Kate's call in a minute. But let's go take some updates on some cases. So you just came back from depositions in a case that, unfortunately, we have to call the Nevada Obscene Monologue Case. Abby, let's talk about what the student... You don't have to give names, but how old the student was, what they were required to do, and what happened in that case. So a high school student, a freshman at the time, was required to read aloud in class for a grade a monologue containing sexually explicit content.

It's still shocking, even months after we'd been in it, to think that this is still happening. The parent then attempted to address it with the school, thinking, surely if the school knew about this, they would shut it down and they would make sure that this doesn't happen again. Because, folks, I'm not a prude here, but this was unbelievable. It was highly inappropriate.

Yeah. It would have been highly inappropriate for a college class, if you ask me. It would have. And she had to read aloud in front of all of her classmates for a grade. So it was compelled speech.

The teacher had reviewed the monologue ahead of time, had edited it, knew what the content was, put it in the pile for the student select, and then when our student selected it, she wasn't allowed to switch it out for another monologue. So the mother goes to the school board meeting. Set that one up. Set that one up.

We have that video, don't we? Can we play that? Let's play it. I'm sorry. Excuse me. I don't.

Thank you so much for your, thank you for your comment. Forgive me. We're not using profanity. Simply, this is a public meeting. I asked for decorum. If you don't want me to read it to you, what was that like for my 15-year-old daughter to have to memorize pornographic material? There you go, Amy.

Yeah. And so this was the mother's attempt to address the issue when she had attempted to address it with the teacher, the principal, the regional superintendent, and with each and every effort to address it, she was just completely dismissed. There were admissions that this was inappropriate, but no steps were taken to address it and to make sure that it did not happen again. And so her last resort was to address it before the board. But as you see, she wasn't even permitted to read this monologue aloud to adult board members.

But they wanted her to read it in the class for a grade. So where are we in the case? You did, we're in litigation. We're in litigation. We have conducted four depositions, depositions of several of the parties. We actually had to fight to get to this point in discovery and even to conduct the depositions. And so the case is ongoing. We have more depositions scheduled for January. All right. So when you're supporting the ACLJ, you're supporting that case, but you're also supporting, you know, March for Life is coming up and we had an incident, a couple of incidents in the March for Life last year that ended up in federal court.

Students were being targeted because they had a pro-life message on their hat or on their shirt. We've got a settlement that we filed in the case involving the National Archives Museum. That case has been resolved. It has been resolved.

Yes. And we got an injunction and the students are going to be allowed back in there with no problem. We have an injunction against the Smithsonian, but what's the status of that case? Well, exactly what happened there.

Tell everybody what happened. Um, so in, in both cases, students, many students, grandmother, um, and a law student were all prevented from, um, remaining in the Smithsonian and or NARA in their pro-life attire. Meanwhile, individuals around them were touring the buildings in, um, anti pro-life attire or pro-abortion attire or pride attire, a whole host of other, they were engaged in other speech and expression. Um, but our clients were singled out and told by armed guards to either remove their clothing, pull it off, take it off and stuff it in your bag or leave the building and leave the premises. And, and so, um, we went to federal court right now.

It's interesting. The case involving the National Archives has been resolved and settled. We got the injunction. We got damages for our client in this particular case with Smithsonian. We have the injunction in place, but we're still litigating. That's right.

Yes. The question I'm always asking is why, why would one settle on the other, both the federal government in one sense or another, I mean, related. So do we have any sense of what their main objection is right now to resolving it or they don't want to pay for damages? I think that, um, the facts are slightly different in each, you know, in one sense, the facts in the Smithsonian are more egregious. Um, and we're asking, um, for, for different things as a resolution. Um, in that case, they were, the students were actually mocked by these armed guards or by these guards.

Um, they were cursed at, and they were essentially forced out of the museum. So we're taking it seriously. We're in litigation on that.

We're not letting that case go until we get it resolved justly. Let me go ahead and take some calls. 1-800-684-3110. Kate's calling from Colorado online for, hi Kate.

Hi there. Thank you so much for everything you guys do. And after following you for so many years and signing petitions, how can I not become a champion with what I know that you guys do and have done? Well, Kate, we really appreciate it because you're the backbone of the ACLJ. I mean, this is how we operate. We don't, we don't have representatives in the field raising money. I mean, we rely on the donors and what God puts on your heart, but I do say to people and I, and, you know, especially this time of year that, you know, this is a, this is a big operation.

This broadcast, I mean, just think about this alone. Like I said, I wish I had a camera in that back room. Next year we're going to, that is, if I have to buy it myself, we're going to have a camera in that back room. It'll be a budget item next year. It'll be a budget item next year.

From our champions, we'll be happy to pay for this. We have how many people back in there, Will, right now? We have about eight people in here. Okay. Eight people are in the back making sure this is out on multiple feeds, radio, TV, satellite, broadcast.

It's on all the media, social media platforms streaming. And then of course, we've got our own experts, Abby being of course, one of our senior lawyers. So, I mean, we've got a full staff here, folks.

None of this happens without you. The litigation is for real. We've got another case that we've been litigating for a long time now involving the city of Ocala that has made one trip up to the Supreme Court of the United States, may make another.

What's the status of that one? Tell everybody what was involved there. I mean, you talk about where just normal community activity, what a community would do to pull together, literally becoming a federal case.

This is the perfect example of that. Tell everybody, Abby, about the city of Ocala case. So in the city of Cala, several years ago, there was a crime spree resulting in the death of a child and harm to others. And the community organizers wanted to come together and do something for the community directly affected. And so they decided to host a prayer vigil.

In the meantime, the police were actively engaged in trying to make arrests with regards to who was responsible for the crime spree. And so the police department for Ocala expressed support for this community vigil, vocally supported it, and on their Facebook encouraged the community to attend. There were several individuals, anti-humanist individuals, or belong to an anti-humanist organization that were enraged by the fact that the police department expressed support for any type of prayer vigil that was taking place in their city.

And so they followed suit with a lawsuit, challenging the action. I find the whole thing... In this day and time, you would think that, especially after the recent Supreme Court decisions, that a prayer vigil that was widely supported by the community, nobody was compelled to go. You didn't have to... If you're gonna get a tax break, you got to the prayer meeting. It was nothing like that.

None of that was required. Now, where's the case right now? That's what people need to understand. We've already made one trip to the Supreme Court.

That's right. They sent it kind of signaling that they thought there were some serious issues here. So you're back at the district court.

What's the latest? I call this the case that will not end. We are back at the district court and we present oral argument on January 17th. So there is gonna be oral argument. Now, all right, folks, this is the perfect example of why your support of the ACLJ matters.

We talked about... I said, we talked about the cases at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Supreme Court of the United States. We're still waiting for the Colorado Supreme Court on the election cases. But here's a case involving a community that just had a prayer vigil.

And the ACLJ is there. Abby's been litigating this case for a number of years now. And it may well become a precedent-setting case.

I think it's probably going to be. But again, none of this happens without your support of the American Center for Law and Justice. Without your support, we can't do it. So whether it is the Supreme Court of the United States or some international tribunal or a district court in Florida to defend a prayer vigil, the ACLJ is there. On the policy side, we've got the full team in Washington, D.C. on government affairs.

We have an office in Jerusalem, an office in Strasbourg, France for the European work. All of this happens because of your support of the ACLJ. Let me encourage you to go to our website at ACLJ.org. Or if you're getting an email today, respond to it. You'll be getting an email. You may have already gotten one. You may get one this afternoon. ACLJ.org. Any amount you donate is matched in our faith and freedom drive.

We're going to put that up on the screen for everybody right now. Your donation's doubled. It doesn't mean you're donating $30 and then you're charging an extra 30. It means there's someone standing with you that will match your gift.

So 30 becomes 60, whatever it might be. So I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. Support the work of the ACLJ.

If you can become a monthly donor, you go to ACLJ.org and you also can become a champion, an ACLJ champion, which helps us on these special cases. I also need to point out we've got a great Christmas movie out by ACLJ Films called Jingle Smells. Go to jinglesmells.movie.

It gives you all the different ways you can buy it. Thousands and thousands of you have watched it. It's a great Christmas. It's an upbeat movie with a positive message. It's funny, but it has a great message too and some faith content that I think is the most moving scene in the entire movie. The whole movie is great.

ACLJ.org to support the work of the ACLJ. Jinglesmells.movie to get that movie. Back with more in a moment. Hey, welcome back to the broadcast. Everyone take your calls at 800-684-3110.

Jeff Balbon is joining us who runs our office in Jerusalem. Before we do, I'm going to take George's call out of Maryland because it'll tie right into it. George, go ahead. You're on the air. Thank you very much for taking the call.

Sure. The morning that Israel was attacked, I was in my truck listening to the radio and I hit the scan button to get some information about that and God sent me right to your radio program. That radio program and what I listened to for that 45 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever I got to listen to told me that I wanted to donate to your organization.

Since then, I am so glad that I became a monthly giver for seeing all the things that you do that I had no idea that you did. And I want to thank you sincerely for what you do. I am not Jewish. I am Christian. But because of that, I know God.

I know the Bible and I know that I have to love the Jewish people as much as God does. Well, George, thank you because without you, we don't get to do this. And I can't, and I see my friend Jeff Balaban nodding his head on the screen. Jeff runs our office in Jerusalem. He's back in the United States.

Just got back to the United States. But George, thank you so much. And I know Jeff has a very heartwarming.

I'll tell you that for me. I know it is for you too. Jay, it really is.

It's a time when, as you know, I mean, Jews feel bereft and alone and we see what's going on in the streets of the world. People seem to be siding with the people who hate us. And so when we hear voices of Christians, Americans, American Christians especially, with support and warmth, it's actually extremely moving and it's very profound. And yeah, Jay, I agree. It's one of the great things about ACLJ that we're working on all these different fronts.

And thank God for the supporters of people like George. So, Jeff, you, of course, have been most recently in Israel, just got back. And, you know, we've got the situation. I was on a call this morning with some of our colleagues, lawyers over there, and the expectation is up north that an engagement with Hezbollah, a serious engagement with Hezbollah is going to be taking place. And as you and I have talked about before, the lethality capability of Hezbollah outweighs Hamas drastically.

Yeah, the missile reach is dramatic. I mean, look, the world's criticism of Israel trying to be somewhat protective of the borders of Gaza, just as Egypt is, although Egypt is much more, their closure to Gaza is much more complete, is because they recognize that Gaza itself is basically infested with genocidal terrorism. But up north, Iran has a direct pipeline and has been supplying Hezbollah, which is their proxy, just as Hamas is their proxy, for years and years. Their missiles can reach essentially anywhere in Israel. They're more targeted.

They are more professionally trained. And the payloads of some of those missiles are terrifying because you're talking about nonconventional warheads that can do horrific damage. So, yeah, this is emerging more and more as an existential war. We're looking, of course, we filed at the UN, Jeff. We've already notified the ICC prosecutor. He made his trip to Israel, saw the horrific nature.

We'll see what he does. I mean, I don't hold a lot of hope for these entities, but we've got to fight there. There's no question about it. Then the Biden administration comes up with this rather bizarre, in the middle of all of this, this rather bizarre, you know, radical settlers. You know, we're going to keep radical settlers of Israel out of the United States. That sounds like radical Catholics, the FBI we're targeting. Radical Catholics meant traditional Catholics.

Go ahead. Right, right. And they use the word extremist. Like there's several extremists and there are many extremists, the buzzwords. And you're guilty as charged in this case.

And what defines you? If you happen to be a Jew who dares to live in Judea, you're now an extremist. You know, and what is the point of what they're trying to do?

With all the problems we have, why would this be a focus? From the beginning, Jay, and no one's disregarding, and we on the air and your show, you've been very clear about the support that the Biden administration has given to Israel in prosecuting this war. There's a lot to be complimentary about, but politically there's been this nonstop, not just brow beating, but like political global incitement on the wrong side, which is they've been pushing for the idea that we, oh yeah, Hamas is the problem. Just Hamas is the problem. We should prop up the Palestinian authority, which is no less genocidal, no less terrorist than Hamas. And prop them up and give them a state, a state which basically occupies the Jews' homeland, occupies the most important border Israel has.

It's a complete, it's a nonstarter. I think the two state solution idea, by the way, is over. I mean, I don't even know if the left in Israel is talking about that anymore, because it's impossible. Go ahead. Only the most extreme, Jay. There's been for years now, I would say more than 80% consensus in Israel that it's impossible.

They've tried this for decades and been rewarded by bloodshed. Yeah. Let me go ahead and take some phone calls. Dimitrios calling from Washington State on Line 2.

Dimitrios, you're on the air. Hello, gentlemen, and thank you so much for your hard work. Three things I really want to talk about right now, why I'm supporting ACOJ and why I'm listening to it. Number one is why I supported it. Recently, we donated with our wife, even though it's been hard like any other average family in US, you know, since the Biden took office, it's been really hard financially.

Honestly, I've never been thinking about changing a job. Now I'm thinking because I'm not making simply because a few, few costs went up and everything else, you know, but we're still donated because you guys are super important. Number two, news news. I get news from you. You guys are the best on news, you know, and I can't emphasize how great you guys are. Even fake news you take in Ukraine because of our administration helps Ukraine.

They're now pulling the strings and manipulate with Ukrainian news agencies so that they can go and trash Republicans and Trump specifically, you know. And number three, number three, you guys are, this is my personal opinion and friends who listen to you. You guys are chosen by God. This is my sincere opinion. You guys are chosen by God for such time and place in the history.

You guys are the best. Seriously. You know, I'm a part of huge Slavic community in Vancouver and people ask me all the time, like, Hey, how do you look at this and that?

And they keep hearing a lot of bad stuff that's happening in the country and they're scared. And I always refer them to you guys. And I always say, Hey, there's hope, you know, this country was built on, on a Judeo Christian principles and we need to stick to it. And there are people who fight for it every day, people like ACLJ and people are like, thank you so much you guys and bless you. Thank you, Demetri, we appreciate it.

Jeff, in 15 seconds, cause I gotta, I gotta ask people to do something here. This tells you the heart of the people that are supporting the work of the ACLJ. Yeah, listen, the season of the year, we just finished Hanukkah, we're moving into Christmas.

I mean, this season of the year is a season where everyone reflects and what we just heard from the people who are supporting ACLJ. I mean, it's how we do what we do. It's why we do what we do.

This is a multi-front war. By the way, Hanukkah this year, my, my grandchildren decided they were going to light two menorahs each, which I thought was great. Beautiful, more light in the world. Yes, exactly.

More light in the world. Jeff, we appreciate it. You know, Jeff operates our, runs our office in Jerusalem. That doesn't happen folks without you. So as we close this broadcast out, I want to encourage you to do something like Demetrio, if you're able to do it. And I know a lot of you, it's financial hard times, you can't do it. I totally understand. No problem. Enjoy our material.

That's why we don't have pay walls up so you could see it and get information. But if you can support the work of the ACLJ, this is a great day to do it at ACLJ.org. It's our faith and freedom year-end drive. Your donations are doubled.

Any amount you donate, large or small, is going to be matched. So we really appreciate you doing that. And a lot of you have become monthly donors. We want to be, our ACLJ champion program started at 15,000. We're at 18,057 right now. We want to end the month at 18,500. And next year I want to be able to announce that we're at 30,000 ACLJ champions.

That's going to be our big project for us for next year. So again, if you're able to donate monthly, you'd be a champion for life, liberty, freedom, a champion for Israel. Folks, we are always going to back the Jewish state. Period.

Unapologetic. It's the American Center for Law and Justice Jerusalem. It's not the Jerusalem Center for Law and Justice. We want to show that nexus between the United States and Israel. There has to be a Jewish state.

God said it. We're protecting it as best we can. And your resources allow us to do it at ACLJ.org. Again, our faith and freedom drive. We encourage you to do it. Thanks, Jeff, for being with us. Everybody will talk with you tomorrow.