A pastor in Chicago passionately argued against claims from Democrats about crime as President Donald Trump is preparing to send federal troops into the beleaguered Illinois city.

Chicago lawmakers and community leaders have pointed to recent statistics showing that crime has decreased in the Windy City in order to accuse the president of authoritarianism. Pastor Corey Brooks pushed back in an interview with "Fox & Friends."

'We still have mothers who are burying young boys, and their sons are dying prematurely. That is a serious issue.'

Brooks, who runs a violence-prevention organization called Project H.O.O.D., said the current level of crime completely justifies the federal surge of troops. He pointed to the fact that there have been 254 deaths since the beginning of the year and that 80% of those victims were black males.

"For anyone in our community to say that things are getting better and that people are safe, that is an outright lie!" the pastor said.

"One of the number-one priorities of government is to make sure that the citizens of America stay safe. And that should be the number-one priority of the governor and the mayor, but it's not," Brooks added. "The only thing that they're really concerned [with] when it comes to black lives that matter is black lives that matter that vote."

The federal surge implemented in Washington, D.C., also led to outrage from some local leaders, but others, like D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), admitted that the troops helped bring down crime tremendously.

"There's no doubt about it that crime is still a serious problem in the city of Chicago," Brooks continued.

"We still have mothers who are burying young boys, and their sons are dying prematurely. That is a serious issue. And for individuals to make us try to feel as if we're witnessing things getting better, that's not right."

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Brooks went on to say that ultimately the solution to crime must come locally but that a federal surge would help that effort.

"I realize that the National Guard is a temporary fix, but it will calm things down," he concluded. "It's up to organizations like ours to continue to do the solutions and bring the help that we need. But we have to speak out. We have to say something."

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The intrigue associated with the accusations against Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) regarding threats of violence and revenge porn continues as a hearing about a restraining order looms next week.

While the hearing for an injunction for protection against dating violence is scheduled for the morning of September 5, attorneys for Mills and the petitioner, reigning Miss United States Lindsey Langston, can't seem to come to an agreement about a major detail.

'Being a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives does not exclude [Rep. Mills] from the requirement of appearing in person for hearings on complex matters.'

Florida Circuit Judge Fred Koberlein ruled previously that the hearing would be held in person at the Columbia County Courthouse. However, Mills and his attorney, Aaron Delgado, have petitioned the court for permission to attend via Zoom, court documents obtained by Blaze News showed.

Mills "must be in Washington, D.C., on that date to fulfill his voting duties," and Delgado "is dealing with serious health issues that will make him unable to travel the three (3) hours, one-way, to make it to the Columbia County Courthouse in person," a motion from Delgado said.

A response from Langston and her attorney, Bobi J. Frank, seemed to throw cold water on Mills' reason for being unable to attend in person. "A brief investigation" of the published calendar for the House of Representatives revealed that the lower chamber of Congress "is not in session on September 5, 2025," said the document from Frank.

The only congressional group scheduled to meet that day is the House Committee on Natural Resources, evidence included in Frank's filing showed.

"Undersigned Counsel could not find any published document confirming that Respondent is a member of the Natural Resources Committee; therefore, if he is not, the September 5, 2025, 10:00 a.m. meeting does not hinder Respondent's in-person participation in this matter," Frank wrote.

The website for the Natural Resources Committee appears to confirm Frank's claim.

RELATED: Panicking? Cory Mills allegedly harasses Miss United States to try to kill bombshell story

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images

Frank also asserted that presenting evidence through technology would hamper her case, especially since the technology will likely cause "delay and interruption."

"Being a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives does not exclude Respondent from the requirement of appearing in person for hearings on complex matters," Frank argued, adding that Mills should "be treated no differently than any other person in a Court of Law."

Delgado did not respond to a request for comment by Blaze News, and Frank declined to give one.

It is unclear whether the court will permit Mills and/or Delgado to appear virtually at the hearing.

Mills and Langston were in a romantic relationship for more than three years when they broke up in February after another woman called police and claimed Mills had been violent with her at his penthouse apartment in D.C. The woman later recanted her story, and Mills was never charged.

To this day, evidence indicates that Mills is still married to Rana Al Saadi, though Mills has previously stated that they are separated.

After Langston dumped Mills, he allegedly threatened to harm her future dating partners as well as to share with them intimate photos and videos of Langston. He also allegedly harassed her after he learned she had reported her accusations to the police and to the media, including Blaze News.

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President Donald Trump's efforts to impose tariffs on imports from foreign governments hit a massive stumbling block in the form of a federal appeals court decision on Friday.

The 7-4 ruling of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the president exceeded his authority when he cited a 1977 emergency powers act to implement many of his tariffs. If upheld, tens of billions of dollars in tariff revenue would have to be returned.

'None of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax.'

The ruling will not take effect until Oct. 14 to allow the administration to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The statute bestows significant authority on the president to undertake a number of actions in response to a declared national emergency, but none of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax," reads the order from the court.

The ruling applies to those tariffs made under the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act but not those passed by the president through other laws.

Trump has said that the billions of dollars of revenue from the tariffs would help balance the budget and erode the massive government debt. He has also used the tariff threat to force companies to bring back manufacturing to the U.S.

RELATED: Trump says he's considering 'a little rebate' for Americans from tariff revenue

"The tariffs give us great power to negotiate," Trump said in comments from April. "Always have, I've used them very well in the first administration, as you saw, but now we're taking it to a whole new level, because it's a worldwide situation, and it's very exciting to see."

Critics say that the Constitution specifically granted the power of tariffs to Congress and that tariffs usually lead to trade wars, lost jobs, and inflation.

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Several foreign nationals in Florida were allegedly caught cheating on their commercial driver’s license tests, further fueling national concerns about road safety due to an influx of non-English-speaking drivers in the American trucking industry.

'This story, when viewed in the larger context, points to the phenomenon that we identified late last year: labor dumping.'

Five men were arrested and are facing felony charges after Florida Highway Patrol investigators claimed they were involved in a scheme to use hidden phones and earpieces to cheat on DMV tests in Jacksonville, WTLV-WJXX reported.

Each man taking the CDL test allegedly used a harness to strap a phone to his chest, hiding it under a T-shirt with a small hole that exposed the camera lens. This allowed the phone to record the English-language questions displayed on the DMV computer screen.

The live video was streamed to an accomplice outside the facility, who then fed the correct answers back to the test-takers in real time in a language they understood, according to investigators.

Some of the men wore button-up shirts over their altered T-shirts to better conceal the hole, according to investigators. Once seated in front of the computer, they supposedly unbuttoned their shirts to ensure that the phone camera could capture the questions displayed on the screen.

RELATED: American trucking at a crossroads: Deadly crash involving illegal alien exposes true cost of Biden’s border invasion

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Dylan Bryan called the scheme “organized fraud,” adding that similar operations could be taking place across the state.

All of the men who were arrested claimed they could not speak or read English and requested interpreters.

RELATED: Florida teams up with ICE to crack down on illegal alien truckers after deadly crash

Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

“This story, when viewed in the larger context, points to the phenomenon that we identified late last year: labor dumping,” Shannon Everett with American Truckers United told Blaze News. “Approximately 10 states are responsible for the majority of noncitizen truck drivers being dumped onto the interstate system. This has been done with a combination of corrupt DMVs, fraudulent testing, and no enforcement for the last four years. Florida is one of the 10 states.”

State Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Monday that Florida would ramp up its efforts to enhance road safety by turning some of its truck weigh stations into Immigration and Customs Enforcement checkpoints. This decision by Florida officials followed a fatal accident on August 12, which involved a truck driver from India. The driver received his CDL in California despite being unable to speak English.

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