EU to provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat
BRUSSELS — The European Union agreed Tuesday to provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet, accusing it of promoting a news agenda with a liberal bias.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasting during the Cold War. Its programs are aired in 27 languages in 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. Its lawyers have been fighting the administration in court.
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CBS News
26 minutes ago
- CBS News
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is "defending bedrock constitutional protections for all of us," his lawyer says
Washington — A lawyer for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the mistakenly deported man who was recently brought back from El Salvador to face charges in the U.S., said his case is bigger than one individual. Chris Newman, who represents Abrego Garcia' family, told CBS News' Major Garrett in an interview that he does not see the case as a referendum on immigration, but as a potential turning point in the erosion of due process rights in the U.S. "The Trump administration is very invested in making this a referendum on the immigration debate, which, as you know, has become coarsened and polarized," Newman said. "And that is one way to look at it. And I think certainly a lot of people view it that way. I don't view it that way. I view this as a core constitutional order case, a core due process case. And it just so happens that a Salvadoran immigrant is defending bedrock constitutional protections for all of us." Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. on Friday to face charges of human smuggling, amid an escalating battle between the Trump administration and the courts. The case ignited widespread outrage after Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador and held in an infamous supermax prison along with hundreds of other deportees, despite a judge ruling years earlier that he shouldn't be deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration admitted that his deportation was an "administrative error." A judge had ordered the government to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S., but the administration did not bring him back for months, arguing it was up to the Salvadoran government whether to release him. The indictment, which was unsealed Friday, alleges that Abrego Garcia and others transported thousands of migrants across the U.S. who were in the country illegally. It also claims that many of the undocumented migrants were members of the gang MS-13. The administration has also accused Abrego Garcia of MS-13 membership, which his family and attorneys strongly deny. "Until Friday, Kilmar Abrego Garcia had never been charged with any crime, either in the United States or El Salvador, but you wouldn't know that if you watched White House press briefings for the last two months," Newman said. "All we've been asking up until this point is for Kilmar to have his day in court so he could defend himself." In court papers over the weekend, Abrego Garcia's lawyers accused the Trump administration of an "elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia." The administration says it has complied with court orders by returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Newman said that Democratic lawmakers who visited Abrego Garcia when he was imprisoned in El Salvador came back with a warning from Salvadorians whose family members had been treated similarly by President Nayib Bukele's government. "We in El Salvador have no more guardrails. We have no more Supreme Court. We have no more check against President Bukele, other than public opinion. You all have to fight to make sure that you keep the bedrock institutions of your democracy because we've already lost them in El Salvador," Newman said of their message.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
NJ Congresswoman Indicted Over Scuffle at ICE Facility, US Says
A federal grand jury indicted a Democratic House lawmaker from Newark, New Jersey, over her confrontation with US immigration officers outside a private detention facility that is key to the Trump administration's mass deportation plans, according to a prosecutor. US Representative LaMonica McIver was accused in a three-count indictment of forcibly impeding and interfering with law enforcement agents outside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, Alina Habba, the interim US attorney for New Jersey, said late Tuesday in a social media post. The indictment wasn't immediately available on the court's electronic docket.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump preparing to send thousands of immigrants including Europeans to Guantanamo military prison: reports
Donald Trump's administration is reportedly preparing to send thousands of illegal immigrants to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as this week, marking a rapid escalation of the president's mass deportation agenda which could target hundreds of people from European allied countries. Immigration officials are considering whether to transfer as many as 9,000 foreign nationals, including people from the United Kingdom as well as Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine, according to reporting from The Washington Post and Politico. Officials are not expected to inform their home countries about their imminent transfers to the notorious facility, which opened in 2002 at the height of the War on Terror. Most European allies accept deportees from the United States to their home countries, making it unclear why the Trump administration would first force them into a detention camp roundly condemned by international human rights groups. The naval base is expected to temporarily detain deportees before they're removed to their home countries in an effort to free up bed space at immigration detention facilities on American soil. A Department of Defense spokesperson did not provide any comment. The Independent has also requested comment from Homeland Security. In January, the president said as many as 30,000 immigrants could be imprisoned inside tents and camps at the naval base, though the tents were removed in recent weeks as the number of deportation flights to the facility fell and the prison didn't reach capacity. Dozens of Venezuelan detainees were initially held there before the administration abruptly emptied the facility in February following a lawsuit from civil rights groups. Roughly 300 immigrants in the country illegally were imprisoned there within the first few months of his administration. A recent lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union suggests roughly 70 immigrants are currently detained at the facility, where they face 'punitive' conditions, rodent infestations, insufficient food, a lack of clean clothes, and only one hour of relief from their 'indoor cage.' 'In effect, the government is perversely utilizing Guantanamo's well-known history as a site of abuse and mistreatment, including as the location of two former CIA 'black sites,' to frighten immigrants,' according to the lawsuit. Use of the facility exceeds $100,000 per day per detainee, according to Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security committee. Guantanamo's drastically expanded use would follow pressure from top Trump administration officials to boost immigration arrests after falling short of the president's campaign ambitions for the 'largest mass deportation operation in American history.' Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly defended use of the facility to jail suspected Tren de Aragua gang members and 'the worst of the worst and illegal criminals,' according to Noem. But the administration has also detained 'lower-threat' immigrants at the facility who were in the United States illegally but have never been charged or convicted of violent offenses or other serious crimes, according to federal guidelines. 'We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Sending anyone to Guantanamo is a profoundly cruel move and yet another effort by the Trump administration to deny due process and circumvent both U.S. and international law,' Amnesty International said in a statement. 'Gitmo should be shut down now and forever,' the group added. The potential escalation follows the president's deployment of National Guard service members and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to crush protests against the administration's anti-immigration agenda.
