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On May 8, Texas Republican Gov. signed legislation that permits police officers to ask about immigration status during stop and punishes law enforcement officials who fail to cooperate with federal immigration agents. The Left is obviously opposed to this legislation. And yes, its drawn protesters out of the woodwork. On the last day of the legislative session, protesters descended into Austin, making their presence known in the capitol. On the House floor, Democratic and Republican state representatives almost had a full-blown brawl after one called Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the protesters (via Texas Tribune):

The normally ceremonial last day of the legislative session briefly descended into chaos on Monday, as proceedings in the House were disrupted by large protests and at least one Republican lawmaker called immigration authorities on the protesters.

State Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, said he called U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement while hundreds of people dressed in red T-shirts unfurled banners and chanted in opposition to the states new sanctuary cities law. His action enraged Hispanic legislators nearby, leading to a tussle in which each side accused the other of threats and violence.

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Hispanic Democratic lawmakers involved in the altercation said it wasnt physical but indicated that Rinaldi got into peoples faces and cursed repeatedly. Video shot from the House floor shows both Republicans and Democrats pushing each other.

He came up to us and said, Im glad I just called ICE to have all these people deported,' said state Rep. Csar Blanco, D-El Paso, whose account was echoed by state Reps. Armando Walle, D-Houston, and Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth.

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Theres no excuse for members making insensitive and disparaging remarks on the floor of the Texas House," Speaker Joe Straus said in a statement.

DPS quickly rushed in to break up the protest. They grabbed the banners from the protesters and pulled some of the people holding them out of the room. Eventually, they decided to clear the gallery of the protesters.

The ordeal became so loud that the House had to take a break from its proceedings for about 20 minutes. A handful of Democratic lawmakers looked up to the gallery and clapped. Thats when the altercation between the lawmakers on the floor started, according to the House Democrats.

Talk about a way to end the session. The video of the incident is below:

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Texas Legislature: Democrats And Republicans Almost Come To Blows When One Called ICE On Protesters - Townhall

Between 2010 and 2015, more than 3,200 H-1B visas were issued to Irish citizens. Photograph: iStock

Irish tech firms and skilled IT workers may be nervous about plans by US president Donald Trump to overhaul work-visa programmes, but they could ultimately benefit from any possible immigration reform, Irelands outgoing consul general for San Francisco has said.

Philip Grant said many individuals and companies are concerned about moves to amend the H-1B visa programme, which permits highly skilled foreigners to live and work in the US for up to six years.

We had expected prior to Trump that we might see some kind of comprehensive immigration reform that would allow us to address the issues that still exist around illegal Irish here. Thats not likely to happen now and we are probably going to see a move towards a more points-based, skills-based immigration system instead, said Mr Grant.

Looking at it selfishly, this is probably going to benefit Ireland more than other countries because thats exactly the sort of immigrant we have coming to the US at the moment, he added.

While the top recipients of the H-1B visas are outsourcers and come primarily from India, there is concern that any changes to the H1-B programme could be detrimental to Irish tech firms, many of whom avail of it when setting up operations in the US.

The US government issues 65,000 H-1B visas a year to US employers recruiting and employing professionals in speciality occupations, such as IT. Between 2010 and 2015, more than 3,200 such visas were issued to Irish citizens, with an average of 640 provided each year to IT professionals moving to the US.

Mr Grant, who is shortly leaving the role he has served in since December 2013, said the nature of immigration to the US, and in particular California, has changed beyond recognition in recent years.

In the early 1990s most of the Irish coming were coming in illegally to work on building sites and were connecting in with traditional core of networks. Over the last few years, though, the nature of Irelands relationship with California has changed substantially, principally due to the tremendous success of the IDA in attracting wave after wave of technology companies from this region into Ireland, said Mr Grant.

He was speaking at the start of a week-long retreat of chief executives being held in San Francisco. More than 80 entrepreneurs have travelled to the US to take part in the EY-sponsored event, which is believed to be the largest unofficial trade mission to leave Ireland.

No country in Europe has the connections with California that Ireland has. We tend to take it for granted and think it is a natural right that a global tech giant such as Google would have its European headquarters in Ireland. But in the normal course of events it wouldnt be the natural home for these companies, said Mr Grant.

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Irish could benefit from Trump's immigration reform - Irish Times

USA Today Editorial Board 3:38 p.m. CT May 29, 2017

Protesters against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington on May 16, 2017.(Photo: Shawn Thew, epa)

The contrast between despotism and liberty was on stark display earlier this monthin the nation's capital, when bodyguards of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan set upon protesters exercising free-speech rights in front of the Turkish ambassador's residence.

Video captured images of the Turkish strongman emerging from a car to watch his beefy sentinels pummel and kick dissidents until the violence was quelled by baton-wielding D.C. police. Eleven people were injured, including a police officer.

The May 16 melee, largely overshadowed by last week's bombshell news involving President Trump and the Russians, was behavior that might have passed for state-sanctioned oppression in Ankara. But this took place along Washington's Embassy Row, and demonstrators acted with the First Amendment's blessing to peaceably assemble.

Imagine the outcry if Israeli protesters gathering outside the King David Hotel in Jerusalem during President Trump's visit this week had been suddenly attacked by members of the U.S. Secret Service. Nor was this the first time Erdogan's security team fought with demonstrators in downtown Washington. A clash broke out in front of the Brookings Institution last year.

Such brutality is sadly what Americans have come to expect from a leader who once held promise as a much needed reformer for a leading democracy in the Islamic world, only to turn increasing autocratic. Last year, Erdogan barely won a referendum, marred by allegations of fraud, that substantially increased the powers of his presidency. After a coup attempt in July, he launched a widespread purge, jailing thousands of opponents, journalists and educators.

When the United States and other Western nations called for restraint, Erdogan dismissed them. That's why it was so galling to see his imperiousness on display in the U.S. capital. One video of the event last week shows a henchman leaning inside Erdogan's car, as if seeking direction. The man then turns and signals another, who plunges into the demonstrators with his fists swinging. Some protesters also threw punches.

Two Erdogan guards were detained by police but later released; all have since left the country. An investigation continues, but diplomatic immunity would make it tough to bring Erdogan's guards to justice.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the Turkish conduct "outrageous," and his department issued a condemnation, summoning Turkey's ambassador to the U.S., Serdar Kl, for a dressing down. Days later, the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara playing tit for tat similarly called in the U.S. ambassador to complain of how police treated those guards.

But the White House has remained silent on the violence that occurred shortly after Trump heaped praised on Erdogan during a meeting between the pair. Increasingly and disturbingly, the president has been drawn to strongmen who trample on human rights, among them Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Philippine President Eduardo Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Doesn't Trump care about Erdogan's thugs beating up protesters just blocks from the White House? The president has, after all, sworn to protect and defend the Constitution and its First Amendment.

Instead, it's left to others like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to exorcise the bitter taste this episode has left. "That's not America," McCain said. No, it is not.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff.

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Turkey henchmen kick First Amendment - Springfield News-Leader

Wheeler this morning announced that he has asked the federal government to revoke permits for a June 4 "free speech" rally in downtown Portland, saying the city was raw and angry in the wake of two slayings on a MAX train Friday.

Wheeler's announcement today drew immediate criticism from civil-liberties advocates. Shortly before 2 pm this afternoon, the ACLU of Oregon released its statement, in a series of tweets.

"The government cannot revoke or deny a permit based on the viewpoint of the demonstrators," The ACLU said. "Period.

"It may be tempting to shut down speech we disagree with," the statement continued, "but once we allow the government to decide what we can say, see, or hear, or who we can gather with, history shows us that the most marginalized will be disproportionately censored and punished for unpopular speech.

"We are all free to reject and protest ideas we don't agree with. That is a core, fundamental freedom of the United States. If we allow the government to shut down speech for some, we all will pay the price down the line."

The mayor's spokesman, Michael Cox, said Wheeler was not trying to muzzle far-right speechbut to break up a scheduled altercation between the "alt-right" and antifascist groups. Those groups had been regularly confronting each other, even before the Friday slaying of two men who confronted hate speech on a Portland MAX train.

"The mayor is not seeking to limit the content of speech," Cox said on Twitter. "He is seeking to prevent violence."

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ACLU of Oregon Says Mayor Ted Wheeler's Attempt to Quash Alt-Right Rallies Violates the First Amendment - Willamette Week

So the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held Thursday, in Taub v. City & County of S.F.:

Plaintiffs Oxane Gypsy Taub and George Davis , self-described body freedom advocates, appeal the dismissal of their claims against the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department Plaintiffs allege that Defendants violated their First Amendment rights by enforcing San Franciscos public nudity ordinance.

1. Public nudity is not inherently expressive, but it may in some circumstances constitute expressive conduct protected under the First Amendment. Even if Plaintiffs public nudity at political rallies was entitled to First Amendment protection, however, we hold that the challenged ordinance is a valid, content-neutral regulation as applied to Plaintiffs expressive conduct under United States v. OBrien (1968). OBrien is the applicable test here because the ordinance is aimed at the conduct itself, rather than at the message conveyed by that conduct.

The challenged ordinance satisfies [the] OBrien factors. [T]he ordinance furthers San Franciscos important and substantial interests in protecting individuals who are unwillingly or unexpectedly exposed to public nudity and preventing distractions, obstructions, and crowds that interfere with the safety and free flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. San Franciscos interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression, because the ordinance regulates public nudity whether or not it is expressive. [And] the incidental restriction on alleged First Amendment freedoms is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest. The ordinance prohibits only exposure of ones genitals, perineum, or anal region, during daily activities in the streets of San Francisco, which is essential to meet the Citys goals of preventing distraction and offense to citizens not expecting to be confronted with such private parts of other persons anatomy.

Plaintiffs [also requested] leave to amend [their] Complaint in order to plead additional facts relating to the expressiveness of their nude rallies and demonstrations. Because we conclude that San Franciscos public nudity ordinance is a valid regulation under the OBrien test, even if we assume that more of Plaintiffs conduct was likely to communicate a message to those who saw it, Plaintiffs complaint would not be saved through further amendment.

Recall that, despite the occasional talk of the First Amendment protecting nude dancing, the Supreme Court has held that a ban on public nudity and even one that extends into strip clubs is constitutionally permissible, see Barnes v. Glen Threatre, Inc. (1991). On the other hand, if a city does allow public nudity for some political events, then it might not be able to deny the same rights to people who want to participate in other events (see, e.g., this post); the 9th Circuit opinion did not deal with this issue.

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No First Amendment right to political public nudity even in San Francisco - Washington Post