INTERNACIONAL
Moms group labeled ‘extremist’ flips script on SPLC after federal indictment: ‘Shut it down’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The leader of a parental rights group that the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled an «extremist» organization is calling for the group to be «shut down» as it faces federal charges.
The Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit concealment and money laundering, stemming from allegations that the civil rights organization funneled $3 million in donations to people linked to various violent extremist groups, including Unite the Right, the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations. These same extremist groups have been targeted by the Southern Poverty Law Center through its litigation and advocacy efforts for years.
Moms for America founder Kimberly Fletcher accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of being a «hate group against America, families, freedom, and God.»
«They’re not going to stop what they’re doing,» Fletcher said. «They’re going to continue funneling money into organizations that are extremist hate groups, and they’re going to continue to target organizations like ours, moms who just want to make sure that our kids are protected, our freedoms are defended, and we restore the republic.»
DAVID MARCUS: ERIKA KIRK IS THE MOTHER SQUABBLING CONSERVATIVES NEED
Kimberly Fletcher, president and founder of Moms for America, speaking at CPAC 2025 held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. (Moms for America)
In its «Year in Hate and Extremism 2022» report, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified Moms for America as an «anti-government extremist» group, alleging that it is an «anti-student inclusion» group and that its measures have «contributed to a volatile climate» for teachers, faculty and school board members.
«I find it ironic that the Southern Poverty Law Center turns out to be the extremist group, which we’ve always known, but now that they’re finally being exposed because the DOJ has investigated them and found them to be funneling money into all the extremist organizations that they’re supposed to be protecting us against,» Moms for America President and founder Kimberly Fletcher said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
«Putting moms in the same category as the Ku Klux Klan or these violent protesters, rioters, it absolutely is not compatible.»
ANTIFA VIOLENCE EXPOSES UC BERKELEY’S HYPOCRISY ON FREE SPEECH AND TOLERANCE
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) building seen in March 2020 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)
Moms for America, which consists of roughly 500,000 mothers across the country, advocates for restoring «truth, family, freedom and the Constitution» in schools and American culture, and opposes critical race theory and LGBT ideology in public school curricula.
Fletcher said that the SPLC’s «extremist» label has disrupted the group’s operations, claiming that tech companies cut off services and that the organization faced threats and harassment, prompting dozens of the organization’s leadership to step down.
«We have been continuously targeted in threats of violence,» Fletcher told Fox News Digital. «I’ve had emails sent to me saying, ‘I know where your kids live, I know who your grandkids are. And mostly it’s just trying to scare us, but there have been times where I’ve gone face to face with the belly of the beast and people have been right in my face and physically pushing on me.»
OPPONENTS OF MAINE CAMPUS PRO-LIFE GROUP INVOKE CHARLIE KIRK IN SOCIAL MEDIA THREAT : ‘GOTTA BE CAREFUL’
Clashes occurred at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Despite threats and alleged shadowbanning by social media companies, Fletcher said the extremist label from the SPLC is «almost like a badge of honor.»
«You’re standing up for the right principles and values and so they’re gonna label you as an extremist,» and so we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.»
To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, Fletcher said Moms for America is hosting a traveling festival in all 50 states geared toward families and children.
Fletcher said the key to countering the Southern Poverty Law Center and other leftist organizations’ attacks is to reach young people and unite families.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«We are shining a light on all that’s good in America so that the darkness will be exposed for what it is because people gravitate to the lake,» Fletcher said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Southern Poverty Law Center for comment.
parents, parenting, fox news investigates, fcc, personal freedoms, politics
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump lost his Supreme Court bid to restrict birthright citizenship through executive order, but one of his own appointees may have handed Republicans a blueprint for pursuing much of the same goal through Congress.
Voting with the 6-3 majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed that Executive Order 14160, which restricts automatic citizenship to people born to U.S. citizens or permanent residents, couldn’t take effect. But in a concurring opinion, he also pointed to a different path forward. Kavanaugh argued the court should have resolved the case under federal law rather than the Constitution, laying out a potential legislative path for Congress to pursue changes to birthright citizenship.
Congress first wrote the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship language into federal law in 1940, then carried it over into the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
Because Congress adopted that language after the Supreme Court’s landmark 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which established that most people born in the United States automatically become U.S. citizens, Kavanaugh said lawmakers effectively incorporated the court’s interpretation into federal statute.
TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill, Sept. 27, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
Kavanaugh said Trump couldn’t use an executive order to change a law Congress had already passed, but instead suggested Congress could rewrite the law to limit birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
«Congress could — consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment—amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,» he wrote.
ALITO WARNS SUPREME COURT MADE ‘SERIOUS MISTAKE’ THAT COULD HAVE NATIONAL SECURITY CONSEQUENCES
Demonstrators rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 1, 2026. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Kavanaugh argued that large-scale illegal immigration and modern international travel have created circumstances the Reconstruction Congress never envisioned. In his view, that gives Congress room to establish new exceptions to birthright citizenship that are comparable to the historical exceptions recognized under the citizenship clause, including children born to foreign diplomats and enemy forces occupying U.S. territory.
«Those two categories of foreign citizens—namely, those unlawfully or temporarily in the country—are relevantly similar to the four categories of persons recognized as exceptions in Wong Kim Ark,» Kavanaugh wrote.
While the majority rejected Kavanaugh’s constitutional reasoning, Republicans quickly seized on the idea that any future effort to limit birthright citizenship would have to come through Congress rather than the White House.
REPUBLICAN ACCUSES SCOTUS OF BETRAYING US, PUSHES BILL RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, PREGNANT VISITORS
Hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling came out, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said birthright citizenship has «been abused» and suggested that Congress will have to amend the Constitution.
«It’s one of those things that was intended to serve a noble and important purpose and has been thwarted and overused and abused,» Johnson told reporters. «I’m sure that the conclusion from this decision is you have to amend the Constitution to fix that.»
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., renewed his push for a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship, arguing that legislation alone would not be enough.
Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 1, 2026. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)
«I introduced a constitutional amendment months ago, actually, to fix birthright citizenship,» Paul wrote on X. «After the Supreme Court decision, that amendment matters more than ever. I’m asking my colleagues to take it seriously and help me get this passed.»
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, echoed Paul’s calls to pass a constitutional amendment.
«The long fight for a constitutional amendment begins now,» Lee wrote on X. «We must explicitly exclude foreign nationals who break our laws, violate our borders, or exploit loopholes to make their families American.»
Trump argued that Congress could change birthright citizenship through legislation instead of a constitutional amendment.
«No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!» Trump wrote on Truth Social. «Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!»
Several Republicans quickly pointed to existing legislation, including Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., Constitutional Citizenship Clarification Act, as well as proposals from Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., aimed at cracking down on birth tourism.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department indicated it would shift tactics, announcing a crackdown on birth tourism by targeting alleged visa fraud and related criminal conduct rather than attempting to enforce Executive Order 14160.
But, Kavanaugh’s roadmap is far from a guarantee. On the constitutional question, a 5-4 majority concluded that the citizenship clause itself protects birthright citizenship, meaning any congressional effort to restrict it through ordinary legislation would likely face immediate constitutional challenges.
«Justice Thomas says in the final paragraph of his dissent that he’s not confident that the decision is going to stand the test of time, so it could well be that the court would revisit it if Congress were to take the steps that Justice Kavanaugh describes,» Notre Dame Law School professor Haley Proctor told Fox News Digital. «This is an important decision. I don’t think the court’s going to revisit it lightly, and the only sure way to get a new answer here would be to amend the Constitution.»
Kavanaugh offered a similar roadmap in a recent Trump case over tariffs. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal emergency law known as IEEPA did not give Trump the authority to impose sweeping tariffs. But Kavanaugh argued the administration had simply relied on the wrong legal authority instead of rejecting the policy outright.
SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER
«The Court today concludes that the President checked the wrong statutory box by relying on IEEPA rather than another statute to impose these tariffs,» Kavanaugh wrote.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Instead, Kavanaugh said Trump could rely on several existing trade laws to impose many of the same tariffs, though those laws would require additional legal steps.
Trump later called Kavanaugh his «new hero» in a Truth Social post praising the justice’s dissent in the February tariff decision.
supreme court, constitution, republicans elections, politics, congress
INTERNACIONAL
Detuvieron en Ecuador a “Churrón”, el líder criminal de Los Choneros por el que EEUU ofrecía USD 5 millones
El narcotraficante y líder criminal ecuatoriano Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, conocido como ‘Churrón’, fue detenido el jueves por la noche en un operativo militar en el norte de Guayaquil, la ciudad más poblada de Ecuador. Por su captura, Estados Unidos ofrecía una recompensa de hasta USD 5 millones.
El ministro de Defensa Nacional, Gian Carlo Loffredo, anunció la aprehensión vía redes sociales y afirmó que Bermúdez estaba al frente de Los Choneros, la banda criminal más antigua del país. El máximo líder de esta organización, José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito, fue recapturado en 2025 y extraditado al país norteamericano.
Bermúdez es requerido por la justicia estadounidense por delitos de tráfico de cocaína y tenencia de armas con fines de narcotráfico. Según Loffredo, el detenido será trasladado a la Cárcel del Encuentro, una prisión diseñada bajo estrictas condiciones para líderes y cabecillas criminales, inspirada en el modelo carcelario de El Salvador.
Los Choneros controlaron la actividad criminal en Ecuador hasta finales de 2020, cuando estalló una guerra de bandas por el control del crimen en el país.
La Oficina de Asuntos Internacionales de Narcóticos y Aplicación de la Ley del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos había anunciado la recompensa de USD 5 millones por información que permita la detención o condena de Francisco Bermúdez, uno de los líderes de la organización considerada terrorista por los gobiernos de Ecuador y Estados Unidos.
“Bermúdez Cagua, quien es el primer miembro de Los Choneros en aparecer en la lista de objetivos del programa de recompensas contra el narcotráfico, participa en la toma de decisiones sobre el tráfico de drogas y armas para Los Choneros”, detalló Tommy Pigott, portavoz principal adjunto del Departamento de Estado.
La declaración recordó que el 27 de junio de 2025, el reciente detenido, junto a otros líderes de la organización, Darío Javier Peñafiel Nieto (“Topo”) y José Adolfo Macías Villamar (“Fito”), fueron acusados por el Distrito Este de Nueva York de conspiración para importar y distribuir cocaína, así como de posesión de armas de fuego para facilitar el tráfico de drogas.
En la acusación, Churrón y Topo figuran como lugartenientes de alto rango de Fito, quien fue capturado a fines en una residencia de Manta tras un año y medio de fuga. “Fueron lugartenientes de alto rango dentro de la estructura de liderazgo de la organización”, señalaba el documento. La cartera al mando del secretario de Estado de EEUU, Marco Rubio, subrayó que Los Choneros mantienen vínculos con el cártel mexicano de Sinaloa y controlan rutas clave del tráfico de drogas a través de Ecuador.
Durante una visita a Ecuador el 5 de septiembre el año pasado, Rubio declaró a Los Choneros y Los Lobos como organizaciones terroristas extranjeras. Esta medida autoriza la sanción de bienes, propiedades y fondos de ambos grupos en el sistema bancario estadounidense y prohíbe cualquier transacción de ciudadanos norteamericanos que involucre activos vinculados a esas organizaciones.
En esa ocasión, el jefe de la diplomacia estadounidense también anunció una ayuda económica de USD 19 millones a Quito, de los cuales 13,5 millones se destinarían a la lucha contra el narcotráfico y 6 millones a la adquisición de drones para la fuerza naval.
Con el regreso de Donald Trump a la Casa Blanca, Estados Unidos incluyó a 12 grupos latinoamericanos en la lista de organizaciones terroristas extranjeras.
Entre los grupos designados figuran, en México: Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noroeste, Cártel de la Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cárteles Unidos y Cártel del Golfo; en Ecuador: Los Choneros y Los Lobos; en El Salvador: Mara Salvatrucha y Barrio 18; y en Venezuela: Tren de Aragua y Cártel de los Soles.
(Con información de EFE)
Crime
INTERNACIONAL
«Quedé en la calle, hermano, con mis hijos»: miles de venezolanos se agolpan en campos de desplazados como en un país en guerra
Los cuatro signos del horóscopo chino que tendrán todo dado para cerrar etapas y abrir caminos en julio, según Ludovica Squirru
Trump’s ‘hero’ justice offers roadmap after Supreme Court rejects birthright order
Detuvieron en Ecuador a “Churrón”, el líder criminal de Los Choneros por el que EEUU ofrecía USD 5 millones
Arrasan mar Argentino: barcos chinos y europeos elevaron 85% la pesca incluso en aguas nacionales
Oficializaron a Adrián Ravier como vocero presidencial y a Fabián Fernández como secretario de Comunicación y Medios
¿Dónde ver EN VIVO y ONLINE el partido entre Portugal y Croacia por el Mundial 2026?
Con la incorporación de Santilli al Gabinete, el Gobierno relanza su estrategia para las elecciones 2027
Irán dilata nuevas reuniones con Estados Unidos e insiste en arancelar el paso por estrecho de Ormuz: se reunió con Omán
Exportadores y el sindicato de aceiteros acordaron un aumento de sueldo para todo 2026
En medio de su separación, Magui Bravi contó por primera vez su traumático embarazo: «El parto fue de emergencia y…»
POLITICA2 días agoCon la incorporación de Santilli al Gabinete, el Gobierno relanza su estrategia para las elecciones 2027
- CHIMENTOS22 horas ago
En medio de su separación, Magui Bravi contó por primera vez su traumático embarazo: «El parto fue de emergencia y…»
- ECONOMIA22 horas ago
¿Se recupera el mercado de los autos?: qué muestran los números de las cinco marcas que más 0 km venden en el país
