Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 4/22

[SVPete]

Sheinbaum weighs sanctions on Chihuahua state after CIA agents died after drug lab raid

https://srnnews.com/sheinbaum-weighs-sanctions-on-chihuahua-state-after-cia-agents-died-after-drug-lab-raid/

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that she is considering possible sanctions against the government of Chihuahua — a state bordering Texas — for allowing CIA agents to participate in an operation to dismantle drug laboratories because any security collaboration with the U.S. should be approved by Mexico’s federal government.

Sheinbaum’s comments come after days of contradictions of several authorities following the death of two U.S. officials in a vehicle crash over the weekend as they returned from destroying a clandestine drug lab in northern Mexico. The CIA’s involvement was confirmed Tuesday to the AP by a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

“There cannot be agents from any U.S. government institution operating in the Mexican field,” the president stated during her morning news briefing. She noted that such activities are not part of the current security protocols or the formal understanding between the two nations.

Two Mexican investigators also were killed in the crash, which Mexican authorities said occurred while the convoy was returning from an operation to destroy drug labs of criminal groups. There have been discrepancies in the public accounts of what happened from U.S. and Mexican officials, which experts say underscores heightened U.S. involvement in security operations in Mexico and across the region.

Gee, I wonder why State of Chihuahua officials would not communicate the raid to Mexico City. Well, no, I don't. And Sheinbaum's reaction and her previous Hate-Trump rantings prove that reluctance to have been correct.

[SVPete]

Nice Try, Greasy Gavin: Ninth Circuit Blocks CA Law Regulating ICE

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/04/22/nice-try-greasy-gavin-ninth-circuit-blocks-ca-law-regulating-ice-n3814186

Gavin Newsom and the Democrat-dominated legislature in California just lost big time at the Ninth Circuit. And so did Tom Steyer and his pledge to attack immigration enforcement if elected as Newsom's successor.

Will either pay a price for their arrogance? Perhaps only in embarrassment, as a unanimous panel at the most famously liberal appellate circuit dunked on their determination to go the Full Faubus. The ruling today more firmly enjoins the state of California from enforcing its 2025 law restricting agents of the federal government from enforcing immigration laws:

An appeals court has blocked a California law passed in 2025 requiring federal immigration agents to wear a badge or some form of identification.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that it violated the constitution because the state is directly regulating the federal government.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal Wednesday. It had already granted a temporary administrative injunction to block the implementation of the law.

Newsom, Steyer, and the California legislature apparently never heard of the Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution. In fairness, neither did the district court, apparently, which declined to stop California from regulating operations by federal agents in the state. Judge Mark Bennet(sic) knows better.

Much of Bennett's 16-page ruling just recounts the progression of the dispute. By page 9, however, Bennett makes the obvious argument that states are subordinate to the federal government when it comes to the enforcement of federal law. Bennett has to conduct a tutorial in basic civics that high-school students should already know, at least those educated outside the Golden State:

FWIW, Judge Mark Bennett is a Trump appointee. The article doesn't give the names of the other two members of the 3-judge panel.

9th Circuit blocks California law banning ICE from wearing masks

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/9th-circuit-blocks-california-law-banning-ice-wearing-masks

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued an injunction blocking a California law that required Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to refrain from wearing masks and to display their I.D.

"We conclude that § 10 of the No Vigilantes Act attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions," the court wrote. "The Supremacy Clause forbids the State from enforcing such legislation. The United States is therefore likely to succeed on the merits of its Supremacy Clause claim, and the other preliminary injunction factors also weigh in its favor. Thus, we grant the motion for an injunction pending appeal.”