Officials Issue Grim Update in Search for Potomac Plane Crash Survivors
Officials have issued a grim update regarding the deadly airplane crash in Washington, D.C.
At around 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday night, a regional American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 over the Potomac River as it approached Ronald Reagan International Airport for landing. Defense Department officials told CBS News that there were three soldiers aboard the helicopter, which was making a training flight at the time of the crash.
At a press conference on Thursday morning, with search and rescue efforts ongoing, District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly issued a grim update. "We don't believe there are any survivors,' he said, adding that they were pivoting from a rescue operation to a recovery mission. So far, Donnelly said, 27 bodies have been recovered from the airplane and one from the helicopter.CBS correspondent Kris Van Cleave reported that 'human remains and debris were washing up on the Virginia River side of the Potomac.' Divers believe they found one of the plane's two 'black boxes,' data recorders which might shine light on the moments before the accident. They've also recovered passengers' luggage and have been able to access the aircraft's cabin in a limited capacity.
"It's a highly complex operation, the conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. It's cold. They're dealing with relatively windy conditions," Donnelly explained.According to CNN, Wednesday's crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in the country since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed just outside of Manhattan in Belle Harbor, Queens, killing all 260 passengers on board and five people on the ground. Despite the tragedy's proximity to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the National Transportation Agency found no evidence of malfeasance and it was officially ruled an accident. The Nov. 2001 incident remains the deadliest airplane crash in American history.
Wednesday's crash ends a 16-year safety streak for the aviation industry, with the last crash occurring in New York in 2009.
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CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
She married a U.S. citizen for love. After she alleged abuse, he threatened deportation.
The Facebook message that popped into her account started as a flirtation: "Hey, how are you?" She had newly arrived from Bangladesh to study for her master's in information technology on a student visa in 2022 and wasn't interested in a relationship. She liked the message. Then he texted again a few days later, "Hey, I have tickets to a Broadway show." She had never been to a Broadway show before, so she went — and their whirlwind first date quickly turned to love for her and then marriage. On Feb. 14, 2024, the couple joined the line to get married at the New York City courthouse. "I brought a white dress online, not very fancy and white shoes, tiara and flowers," she said. "I was smiling, just looking at him. I felt really good." Her new husband filed for a green card for his wife. A temporary one was granted, and she moved to his family's house in Brooklyn. The future seemed bright. A rise in the threat of deportations Now, just a little more than a year later, the 31-year-old woman, who asked CBS News not to use her name due to safety fears, has separated from her husband after alleging abuse — and is now worried about being deported. As immigration enforcement raids increase in the U.S. – including operations in Los Angeles, which led to protests that prompted President Trump to mobilize National Guard troops — communities are shaken watching the deportations of families, friends and co-workers. One community that's especially vulnerable, experts say, are victims of domestic violence. Crystal Justice, chief external affairs officer at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, told CBS News in a statement that they have seen abusive partners "threatening to deport a partner or their family or withholding legal documents to limit a person's ability to travel." 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A massive backlog and long waits Limb represents numerous clients — including the one interviewed for this CBS News piece — in filing petitions to stay in the U.S. after alleging domestic violence. Waiting for an answer to these petitions can take years due to backlogs and vetting for the applications. Immigrants who allege abuse can file to stay in the U.S. under the Violence Against Women Act, but those petitions can come with a wait of sometimes more than 36 months for an answer. These applicants are close relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, and they can file for status on their own, without the abuser's knowledge, consent or participation. There were 35,917 VAWA petitions in 2024, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition filings have increased by more than 350% in the last decade. In 2014, there were 7,130 filings. 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She was given a list of what constitutes domestic abuse. "I didn't want to go back," she said. "...I didn't know what to do." She said her sister, who immigrated to the U.S. years ago came to visit her from Connecticut and told her, "You don't have to go back." She then cut off all contact with her husband and his family. Then the messages and threats started. CBS News reviewed text messages and documents at the Her Justice office in New York City, allegedly from the client's former partner threatening to call ICE and deport her. She filed for a VAWA petition, her lawyer said. CBS News viewed videos of the couple's wedding day and interviewed the client, but did not reach out to the former partner for safety concerns for the client. One message read, "1. You are my wife. 2. I am your petitioner. Lawfully you cannot just leave, as an American you are my responsibility. I'm sorry but I warned you." Text message showing alleged deportation threats CBS News/ Handout Others were sent to her sister. One text message said, "I will be reaching out to immigration soon." Another said, "ICE can show up any day and deport." Limb said abusers now have more power and control right now as they know they can use their partners' immigration status in the current climate. "That is more scary than anything else for a lot of our clients to be deported or to be removed and/or separated from their children," Limb said. "People are very, very scared." For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224. People can text START to 88788 or chat on
Boston Globe
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Vigil held in Chelsea in honor of high school student and recent grad detained by immigration agents
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Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Wasn't the president supposed to be deporting criminals?
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(For that matter, so has President Trump, a felon, and he continues to violate the Constitution day after day, as his mounting court losses attest.) But our region's undocumented Mexican and Central American immigrants are inextricably embedded in our lives. They care for our children, build our homes, dig our ditches, trim our trees, clean our homes, hotels and businesses, wash our dishes, pick our crops, sew our clothes. Lots own small businesses, are paying mortgages, attend universities, rise in their professions. In 2013, I wrote about Sergio Garcia, the first undocumented immigrant admitted to the California Bar. Since then, he has become a U.S. citizen and owns a personal injury law firm. 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And please, let's not forget that when Congress came together and hammered out a bipartisan immigration reform bill under President Biden, Trump demanded Republicans kill it because he did not want a rational policy, he wanted to be able to keep hammering Democrats on the issue. But it seems there is more going on here than rounding up undocumented immigrants and terrorizing their families. We seem to have entered the 'punish California' phase of Trump 2.0. 'Trump has a hyperfocus on California, on how to hurt the economy and cause chaos, and he is really doubling down on that campaign,' Flores told me. He has a point. 'We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor placed on this country,' Noem told reporters Thursday at a news conference in the Westwood federal building, during which California Sen. Alex Padilla was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed face down for daring to ask her a question. 'We are not going away.' So now we're talking about regime change? (As former Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe put it on Bluesky, the use of military force aimed at displacing democratically elected leaders 'is the very definition of a coup.') Noem's noxious mix of willful ignorance and inflammatory rhetoric is almost too ludicrous to mock. It goes hand in hand with Trump's silly declaration that our city has been set aflame by rioters, that without the military patrolling our streets, Los Angeles 'would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years,' and that 'paid insurrectionists' have fueled the anti-ICE protests. What we are seeing play out in the news and in our neighborhoods is the willful infliction of fear, trauma and intimidation designed to spark a violent response, and the warping of reality to soften the ground for further Trump administration incursions into blue states, America's bulwark against his autocratic aspirations. For weeks, Trump has been scheming to deprive California — probably illegally — of federal funding for public schools and universities, citing resistance to his executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, on immigration, on environmental regulations, etc. And yet, because he is perhaps the world's most ignorant head of state, he seems to have suddenly realized that crippling the California economy might be bad politics for him. On Thursday, he suggested in his own jumbled way that perhaps deporting thousands of the state's farm and hospitality workers might cause pain to his friends, their employers. (Central Valley growers and agribusiness PACs, for example, overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2024.) 'Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years,' Trump said. 'They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great. And we're going to have to do something about that.' Like a lot of Californians, I feel helpless in the face of this assault on immigrants. I thought about a Guatemalan, a father of three young American-born children, who has a thriving business hauling junk. I met him a couple of years ago at my local Home Depot, and have hired him a few times to haul away household detritus. Once, after I couldn't get the city to help, he hauled off a small dune's worth of sand at the end of my street that had become the local dogs' pee pad. I called him this week — I have more stuff that I need to get rid of, and I was pretty sure he could use the work. Early Friday morning, he arrived on time with two workers. He said hadn't been able to work in two weeks but was hopeful he'd be able to return to Home Depot soon. 'How are your kids doing?' I asked. 'They worry,' he said. 'They ask, 'What will we do if you're deported?'' He tells them not to fret, that things will soon be back to normal. After he drove off, he texted: 'Thank you so much for helping me today. God bless you.' No, God bless him. For working hard. For being a good dad. And for still believing, against the odds, in the American dream. @ @rabcarian
