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FOX NEWS FIRST: Dems fear losing voters over census question; California sanctuary city backlash escalates

By Fox News
Published | Updated

Salvador G. Sarmiento, center, speaks during an Immigrant advocates rally outside the Orange County Board of Supervisors' meeting room in Santa Ana, Calif., Tuesday, March 27, 2018, to protest a proposal to join a U.S. government lawsuit against California over the state's so-called sanctuary law. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin) (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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Developing now, Wednesday, March 28, 2018

  • California’s 'sanctuary city' laws face backlash as Orange County officials join the Trump administration’s lawsuit over the Golden State's immigration policies
  • Democrats fear immigrants will avoid the U.S. Census after the Trump administration seeks a U.S. citizenship question for the 2020 survey
  • President Trump considers using the Pentagon budget to pay for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall
  • North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un met with China's leader in an 'unofficial' visit, Chinese state media says
  • The Supreme Court will hear its second major redistricting case of the term Wednesday, this time with an appeal coming from Maryland Republicans
  • The number of agents responding to a House subpoena of documents on the Hillary Clinton email probe, potential FISA abuses and the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe will double, FBI Director Christopher Wray says

THE LEAD STORY - SANCTUARY CITY BLOWBACK: Officials in California's Orange County voted Tuesday to join a lawsuit from the Trump administration fighting the state's "sanctuary city" laws, hours after the county sheriff's department announced its own methods of pushing back against the legislation aimed at protecting illegal immigrants ... Meanwhile, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra would not rule out taking action of his own against officials who fight the laws, including the sheriff. One of the laws bars police in many cases from turning over suspects to federal immigration agents for deportation. Orange County officials moved earlier this week to improve communication with federal immigration agents by publishing the release dates of inmates online.

DEMOCRATS FEAR LOSING VOTERS OVER CENSUS: The Trump administration's decision to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 census has sparked fear among Democrats that immigrants will avoid doing the survey altogether, potentially weakening political representation for states that tend to vote Democratic and robbing many communities of federal dollars ... According to the Congressional Research Service, the Census has not collected citizenship data from the whole population, rather than just a population sample, since 1950. The state of California has already filed a lawsuit over the Trump administration's decision to reintroduce the citizenship question to the census, with California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio expected to join.

'BUILD THAT WALL' ... WITH MILITARY FUNDS?: Still miffed about the budget deal he signed last week, President Trump has potentially planted the idea of using the Pentagon budget to pay for his border wall with Mexico ... Last weekend, Trump tweeted the following: "Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!" (In the tweet, "M" refers to the military.) Trump raised the funding plan with House Speaker Paul Ryan at a meeting at the White House last week, a person familiar with the conversation told the Associated Press. However, this shift in spending would likely require approval from Congress.

KIM JONG UN GOES TO CHINA: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an "unofficial visit" to Beijing, China's state-run media reported late Tuesday ... South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing North Korean state radio, reported that Kim had visited China between Sunday and Wednesday local time at Xi's invitation and was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju. Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and he and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They also watched an art performance together, the news agency said. Xi hailed Kim's visit as embodying the importance with which the North Korean leader regarded ties with China.

MARYLAND MAP REVISIONS?: The Supreme Court will take up its second big partisan redistricting case of the term Wednesday ... The justices are scheduled to hear in an appeal filed by Republicans in Maryland. The Maryland GOP complains that Democrats who controlled the state government in 2011 drew a congressional district for the express purpose of ousting the Republican incumbent and replacing him with a Democrat. On March 19, Supreme Court rejected a request from Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers to throw out a new congressional district map drawn by the state's highest court.

FBI PICKING UP THE PACE: FBI Director Christopher Wray announced plans to “double the number” of agents handling records for the House Judiciary Committee after it asked for documents on the Clinton email probe, potential FISA abuses and the firing of Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ...  According to a statement released by Wray, he believes the documents requested by committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., are “likely in the thousands” but that he agrees the “current pace of production is too slow.” “We have dedicated 27 FBI staff to review the records that are potentially responsive to Chairman Goodlatte’s requests,” he wrote, adding he was “doubling the number of assigned FBI staff, for a total of 54, to cover two shifts per day from 8am to midnight to expedite completion of this project.” But, a Justice Dept. insider told Fox News that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has voiced his concern over the “unacceptable” pace with which the FBI is working and is “done” seeing his department criticized over it.

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AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS

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On Fox News: 

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On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Guests include: Michelle Malkin; Marc Lotter, former special assistant to President Trump and former press secretary to Vice President Pence; Jim Farley, Ford executive vice president and global markets president; Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.

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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday morning.

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