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By Tesa Balc, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association
Photo: Rep. Sara Jacobs in her congressional office. (File photo courtesy of Jacobs’ office via Facebook)
March 24, 2025 (Jacumba) - A San Diego Democrat said Saturday that Republicans have told her they will not back President Donald Trump if he defies court orders.
The remarks, by Rep. Sara Jacobs, were part of a virtual town hall she hosted Saturday in which she answered pre-submitted questions and addressed comments and queries from an audience that at times reached a high of 1,200 viewers.
While providing legislative updates and answering constituents’ questions, Jacobs acknowledged that a majority of her initial updates were “bleak” for those opposed to Trump’s policies and proposals.
But then she pointed to recent decisions in which judges ruled against Trump – including a temporary restraining order to block the administration from deporting hundreds of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act – as proof of progress.
“Yes, we know Trump ignored the court order, but I think it’s important that the court order happened and now we’re pushing Republicans to stand up and respect the courts because they have privately told me that their red line is Trump not abiding by a court order,” Jacobs said.
Other rulings have blocked Trump’s ban on transgender service members and, most recently, barred the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Social Security records.
Jacobs represents California’s 51st Congressional district, which includes central and eastern San Diego. She has been in town this past week, taking multiple meetings with residents and stakeholders, including at Rady Children’s Hospital where she discussed potential cuts to Medicaid funding.
She began the town hall Saturday by outlining her frustration with the federal spending bill that was approved by Congress last week, as she said the vote felt like a missed opportunity to push back against Trump’s administration.
“I voted against this bill because I am very concerned about some of what was in there, including cuts to veterans care, cuts to rent subsidies, cuts to Army Corps of Engineers construction projects,” Jacobs said.
“And I am very disappointed that some Senate Democrats, not [California’s] – our two Senators did the right thing – but some Senate Democrats gave our leverage away for free and helped Republicans to pass this continuing resolution.”
Before answering questions, Jacobs shared her opposition to the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act; she is a co-sponsor of a bill to repeal the 1798 law. The congresswoman also said that she joined a recent bipartisan oversight delegation on a trip to Guantanamo Bay to see the conditions in which migrants were being held.
“After our oversight visit, they actually moved all the immigrants who were there back to the continental United States, I think, because even the Republicans realized there was no real reason for the cost and the cruelty,” she said.
Questions for Jacobs ranged from DOGE and challenges to its leader, billionaire Elon Musk, to complaints about Sen. Chuck Schumer – a subject of criticism for his role in passage of the spending bill – and other Democrats they accused of not opposing Trump more actively.
Some of the constituents who took part in the town hall feared for democracy itself. Jacobs tried to reassure them.
“What we’ve seen from other countries is that if we can put together a broad-based pro-democracy movement, we actually have a pretty good chance of getting a better democracy on the other side,” she said.
She also told constituents they could support congressional efforts to halt Musk’s actions by filing a Freedom of Information Act request for a report on the information that DOGE has accessed about them personally. Doing so, Jacobs said, “is one way that you can really help us do our constitutional oversight job.”
“Send that to us,” she urged. “That is really helpful to us in being able to understand exactly what DOGE has accessed and what they continue to access.”
She added that her office will post information on her website about how to file FOIA requests.
Jacobs plans another town hall, this one in person, on April 22 in El Cajon.