The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) will file a lawsuit Monday seeking to force Oakland, California, to produce documents related to its mayor Libby Schaaf’s decision to tip off illegal aliens to a major enforcement action in February, IRLI Executive Director Dale Wilcox revealed for the first time on Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Sunday.

We’re “tired of these state and local jurisdictions who are thumbing their nose at our duly enacted immigration laws,” Wilcox told Breitbart News Deputy Political Editor Amanda House.

In February, a San Francisco Bay-wide operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at criminal illegal aliens netted 232 apprehensions, including 115 with serious criminal records. But, according to ICE Director Thomas Homan, more than 800 others escaped after Libby Schaaf broke the secrecy of the action, explicitly in order to protect illegals from discovery.

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In a Fox and Friends interview in the aftermath of the operation, an outraged Homan accused Schaaf of acting like “a gang lookout yelling ‘police.’” Attorney General Jeff Sessions was even more emphatic. “How dare you?” he asked during his announcement of his department’s lawsuits to strike down California’s so-called “sanctuary” policies. “How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of our law enforcement officers to promote a radical open borders agenda?”

Schaaf defended her actions, claiming they did not endanger law enforcement and only told “people what the law is, what their rights are, what their resources are.”

IRLI requested copies of emails and other internal communications between Schaff and her top-level staff related to Schaaf’s public tip-off under the California Public Records Act (CPRA), but according to IRLI’s complaint, the assigned deadline passed without any documents being produced. IRLI is now suing to force Oakland to hand over the documents.

“I think [the documents are] going to expose [Schaaf and her staff] radical open-borders philosophy and how … [Schaaf] has been scheming with the chief of police,” Wilcox told House about what IRLI hopes their lawsuit will uncover. “She has mentioned in news reports about conversations she’s had with her chief of police over tipping off illegal aliens. She’s been quite brazen. She’s actually said she’s willing to go to jail to defend criminal illegal aliens.”

Schaaf’s tip-off provoked a strong reaction but rocketed her into the forefront of politics in California, where she is running for re-election. The gambit attracted the endorsement of rising Resistance star Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), for example.

This IRLI suit against Schaaf is taking place amid a backdrop of contempt for federal immigration laws across the Golden State, most clearly exhibited by the three sanctuary state laws the Justice Department is seeking to invalidate. Most galling of these for immigration hawks like Wilcox is AB 450, which prohibits private employers from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. “This is the State of California telling employers – private employers, we’re not talking about public agencies – … ‘you’re not allowed to cooperate with ICE either,’” Wilcox told House.

In turn, Schaaf and California’s resistance to federal immigration laws fits into the larger, nationwide effort by liberal jurisdictions to protect illegal aliens at the expense or in disregard of American citizens and legal residents. Wilcox cited a recent study by IRLI’s sister group the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) that showed over half of Americans now live in some kind of sanctuary jurisdiction.

“Since President [Donald] Trump has taken office, it’s been like dominoes with these open-borders agitators. … The sanctuary policies have just multiplied,” Wilcox explained. “Of course we know what the politicians – what’s behind their push for open borders. It’s a desire for more votes eventually. If [illegal aliens] get to stay, if they get citizenship, then they’re going to vote. And we see, sadly, that one party has adopted a position on this issue and they’re counting on those votes in the future.”

Criminals often believe that holding a gun — illegally, of course — instantly makes them a wolf among sheep. This might be true in places where liberal policies prevent citizens from defending themselves, but one thug just found out that “victims” may not be easy prey after all.

Over the weekend, an amazing video emerged that shows an armed criminal pull a gun on a group of mothers and children near a school. He may have thought that “defenseless” women on Mother’s Day weekend wouldn’t be able to resist, but he was dead wrong.

The surveillance video was released from Brazil, and shows a group of women and girls casually standing near a street corner. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the thug strikes, brandishing a revolver.

Footage shows the criminal making threats or trying to get at the crowd, but his preoccupation with carrying out a crime meant that he didn’t see something to his right: A woman in a pink shirt, carefully drawing a handgun of her own.

WARNING: Video depicts a real-world defensive shooting.

According to a translation of the Brazilian news source Globo, the woman in pink was the mother of a girl who attended the nearby school. Unfortunately for the perpetrator, she was also an off-duty military police officer.

“According to the PM (military police), the police officer saw the move and heard a woman saying it was robbery,” Globo reported in Portuguese. “At this point, the police officer moved away, pulled out the gun and fired three times at the suspect.”

The mother’s shots hit their mark. Two bullets were fired by the suspect, but he thankfully missed both times.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the woman — who was later identified as Kátia da Silva Sastre — took cover behind a vehicle, then moved in and disarmed the thug while still keeping him at gunpoint.

Globo reported that although the criminal survived the initial encounter and was treated by an ambulance service, he later died from his injuries.

Additional details about the attack were released by Active Self Protection, a self-defense education group.\

“(The woman) was armed with a Taurus PT640 in .40S&W and the perp was armed with a .38sp revolver,” ASP said, citing a Brazilian police report. “She shot 3 times and hit 3 times, he shot twice and hit none.”

RELATED: UK Police Seized Cache of ‘Super Deadly’ Weapons

This video shows just how important concealed carry can be both in the United States and around the world. As locations like Chicago, Mexico and Brazil demonstrate, laws do not stop criminals from obtaining and using illegal firearms.

What does stop them, however, are armed and trained people who refuse to be defenseless victims. In this case it was an off-duty officer, but a prepared civilian could have had the same effect.

Self-defense is a human right. For all the talk about women’s rights and feminism, this is what true female empowerment looks like: Being able to stop a vicious, armed man bent on robbery — or worse.

This video may have been recorded thousands of miles away from the United States, but its lessons are just as important here.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below!

Four U.S. Senators addressed members of the press at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on Monday morning, hours before the official relocation of the U.S. embassy — and all four were Republicans.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Dean Heller (R-NV), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Mike Lee (R-UT) made the trip, along with ten Republican U.S. Representatives — but not one Democrat joined the U.S. delegation for the embassy event.

Only former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 before being rejected by his party in 2006 for his support of the Iraq War — came to Jerusalem to join in the festivities.

Two journalists asked the Republican Senators why no Democrats had come.

Sen. Cruz said: “That is a sad, sad manifestation — I wish we had every member of Congress here … every member of Congress had the option before them to come.”

Sen. Graham said that no one, Republican or Democrat, had been specifically invited to the ceremony — they simply chose to come or they did not. And he noted that only Republicans had come of their own volition.

“It’s not for me to tell you what that says,” Graham said. “It hurts me.”

He noted that the absence of Democrats sent a dangerous message that Americans were not united in their support for Israel.

“There’s too much going on in this region to send mixed signals,” he said.

Breitbart News spoke to Sen. Lieberman separately and asked him whether he was disappointed that no Democrats had come to the embassy opening.

“I’m not disappointed, but I’m surprised, because support for it has been broadly bipartisan.”

He recalled: “I was part of the group that worked to pass the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995. There was Bob Dole and John Kyl on the Republican side, and myself and Pat Moynihan on the Democratic side, and it got 95 votes.

“I don’t want there to be a misimpression that this is a partisan act. And I would hope that Democrats understand that this is not a pro-Trump rally. It is a pro-U.S.-Israel partnership, alliance rally.”

Sen Graham observed that the partisan divide over Israel seemed to have grown deeper since President Barack Obama signed the Iran deal, over the objections of Republicans and the Israeli government.

Sen. Lee noted that Iran deal had lacked the consent of the American people.

“There was no backup for this deal, not to the degree contemplated under the Constitution.

“Shame on them for not submitting it to the Senate … We had no business entering into an agreement like that, with that many ramifications, without the Senate backing it up.”

Lee praised President Trump’s courage in deciding to move the embassy, as did Sen. Heller.

“Except for President Trump … and his promises made and promises kept during the last campaign, we wouldn’t be here today,” Heller said.

Sen. Cruz also praised Trump, likening his decision to that of President Harry S. Truman — a Democrat — to recognize Israel 70 years ago, 11 minutes after it declared independence.

Graham agreed, calling the president’s decision to move the embassy a “strong, bold move, not just by the president but by the American people.”

“[Trump] has a new way about him,” Graham added. He’s not stuck into the swamp, for lack of a better word.”

“If you have a problem with Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, I tell people in South Carolina somewhat jokingly, take it up with God,” he said.

Asked how the embassy move served American interests, Graham said, “In a time of great turmoil and doubt, where the region in fracturing in many fissures, this is a certain statement that I think will give the region more certainty about who America is.

“Look at this as the cavalry coming in a symbolic and substantive way.”

Cruz added: “By moving the embassy American simultaneously makes clear that we are willing to stand with our friends … and stand up to our enemies.”

Asked whether he was concerned about threats of violence by Palestinians, Cruz quipped: “It is not as if the terrorists need an excuse.”

He added that “Israel is more than ready for peace … The impediment to peace is Palestinian leadership that refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and continues to embrace and celebrate terrorism.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Former Democratic congressman Mel Reynolds says that he has “given up on America” and will move to Africa after he serves his latest prison sentence.

But Mel Reynolds was not the only one with things to say about this latest conviction for failing to file tax returns on more than $400,000 he received in consultant fees. “It’s a tragedy that you squandered the opportunities you had and the type of person you could have become,” federal Judge Robert Gettleman scolded him in court.

Reynolds represented Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District from January 1993 to October 1995. That is when he was convicted of the statutory rape of a 16-year-old worker in his campaign. Later, he was also convicted of funneling money for voter registration drives into his campaign and concealing various debts.

The former congressman acted as his own defense and argued that his prior convictions should not be counted against him in the sentencing. “The question is,” Reynolds asked, “how long does a person have to pay for mistakes?” He also attempted to contrast his misdeeds with his time in the military and fathering three children.

Reynolds was convicted of four counts of not filing tax returns on money that the prosecution claims he received while consulting for Chicago businessmen in Zimbabwe. He has been credited the two months already served in jail, so he will likely only serve another four months. The maximum penalty would have seen him behind bars for another four years.

Still, Reynolds does not believe he should serve any time at all. In fact, he is pretty certain his time there is the result of racism. “To put me in jail serves what purpose?” he asked the judge. “To teach me a lesson? … I’ve been taught about this racist society … every day of my life.” Then, “I’m going home to Africa,” he told reporters outside of the court. “I’ve given up on America because how long do African-Americans put up with this nonsense?”

Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit following the revelation that the company logged users’ text and call logs using the Facebook smartphone app.

Facebook is now reportedly facing a class-action lawsuit relating to the company’s collection of user text and audio logs via the Facebook smartphone app, Fast Company reports. A lawsuit filed in the northern district of California names John Condelles III as the main plaintiff and states that Facebook “presents several wrongs, including a consumer bait-and-switch, an invasion of privacy, wrongful monitoring of minors and potential attacks on privileged communications.”

It was revealed recently that Facebook was collecting and storing logs of users phone calls and texts, including the recipients of texts and duration of conversations. According to the lawsuit, “Facebook has collected and stored information in a scope and manner beyond that which users knowingly authorized. The practice is ongoing.” The complaint alleges that this practice violates California’s Unfair Competition Law in relation to three counts as well as fraudulent business practice and violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

According to the filing:  “The terms of service and privacy notice materials do not inform (and in the past have not informed) the ordinary and reasonably attentive Facebook user that installing the application on a mobile device will result in the logging of all the user’s phone and text communications — including recipients, dates of communication, length of communication and mode of communication — on Facebook’s servers for Facebook’s own use.”

The issue specifically affected Android phone users as until an update was issued in 2012, Android applications could access users phone calls and text messages without asking for explicit permission. “By granting this access, Android users were also automatically and unknowingly granting Facebook permission to ‘scrape’, or automatically gather, Android users’ call and text logs,” states the lawsuit. “In other words, Facebook scraped years’ worth of call and text data, including whether the call was ‘incoming’ ‘outgoing’, or ‘missed;’ the data and time of each call; the number dialed; the individual called; and the duration of each call.”

Condelles is looking for approximately $5 million in damages and would like to make the complaint a class-action lawsuit across the entire United States.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar pointed to short-term and association health plans during Friday’s White House press briefing as possible solutions to Obamacare and health insurance premiums reaching new heights.

Breitbart News asked Azar about insurers in areas like Maryland and Virginia who are considering double-digit health insurance premium increases in 2019. “There’s a Maryland regulator that’s said something like the ACA is in a ‘death spiral,’ echoing past words of the President [Donald Trump]. What are you doing to deal with that? Does HHS just accept these premium increases as reality? What are you doing to reduce those costs?”

Azar said some of the premiums being discussed now are “the very beginning of a process that happens with state regulators around those insurance designs.”

The secretary pointed to the massive Obamacare premium increases which occurred under President Obama. “They continue because of the structural infirmities in how Obamacare was designed,” He explained.

Azar highlighted President Trump’s efforts to solve the problem of spiking rates:

This is why the President has been so adamant about producing alternative, affordable options for patients because for so many, the 28 million forgotten men and women in this country have been forced out of the individual market and are sitting there without insurance even though they were promised they would have accessible, affordable, competitive insurance that they could keep.

6.7 million Americans paid 3.1 billion dollars in the Obamacare taxes for the privilege of not buying insurance they couldn’t afford and didn’t want and 80 percent of them make 50,000 dollars or less.

So we’re trying to bring short-term plans as an option for people. We’re trying to bring association health plans out of the Labor Department as options for people. The President is just- we want to keep looking for more options to get people out of some of the traps that the Obamacare system has created of these high cost and uncompetitive plans for people. 

Maryland and Virginia health insurers are among those considering double-digit health insurance premium increases in 2019 for individual plans, according to Bloomberg. These states’ rates are the first 2019 rates being revealed. Maryland Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer Jr. said one insurer is looking to nearly double rates in his state. “I believe we’ve been in a death spiral for a year or two,” he told reporters on a recent call.

Health carriers have fled cities like Charlottesville, Virginia under what Kaiser Health News described as “the instability of the Obamacare marketplace,” which it said, “created a coverage vacuum, leaving locals and insurance regulators scrambling.”

Health insurance premiums have soared under Obamacare. HHS reported in May 2017 that “Average individual market premiums more than doubled from $2,784 per year in 2013 to $5,712 on Healthcare.gov in 2017 – an increase of $2,928 or 105%.”

Efforts to fulfill the campaign pledges of many Republicans to repeal Obamacare stalled after a late attempt to pass even a “skinny repeal” bill sank with Sen. John McCain’s thumbs down vote. What the administration has managed to do is repeal the health insurance mandate with a provision in the major tax cut plan passed late last year.

President Trump and Secretary Azar unveiled a new plan on Friday to return prescription drug prices to levels that are affordable for Americans. The two announced the “blueprint to lower drug prices” in a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Azar took reporters’ questions in the White House briefing room shortly thereafter.

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana