Crypto trader charged, held without bail after alleged torture of millionaire
A man was arrested and is being held without bail after being accused of kidnapping an Italian tourist and torturing him for weeks in New York City in a bid to steal the alleged victim's bitcoin, according to officials. NBC News' Maya Eaglin reports.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tensions rise as National Guard comes face-to-face with L.A. protestors
Dozens of National Guard members, wearing helmets, riot gear and carrying rifles, arrived in Los Angeles Sunday morning after being called up by President Donald Trump to quell violent demonstrations. They were met by a crowd of protesters marching to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. Reports said the crowd disappeared after authorities deployed tear gas, but they reassembled, according to NBC News' L.A. affiliate. Trump deployed 2,000 members of the National Guard to California on Saturday night, in response to days-long protests against raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents against migrants who are in the country illegally. The Department of Homeland Security released a list of some of the arrests made during the raids, where they claimed the operation swept up the 'worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.' The president categorized the events transpiring in L.A. as 'a riot' in a press gaggle Sunday morning. He also had a stark warning for California officials 'who stand in the way of law and order': 'They will face judges,' he told reporters. California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged his state to not 'give Trump what he wants.' 'Stay calm. Stay peaceful,' he said in a post Sunday afternoon. Late on Saturday night, Trump thanked the National Guard before calling Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass 'incompetent.' 'Just look at how they handled the fires, and now their VERY SLOW PERMITTING disaster. Federal permitting is complete!' he said on social media of the disaster relief and rebuilding efforts following January's wildfires. He then issued a warning to violent protesters, saying they won't be tolerated or allowed to wear masks at protests. Newsom responded to Trump's post with sarcasm. 'Smart guys running the operation,' he wrote. 'The National Guard wasn't even deployed on the ground when Trump posted this. Pete Hegseth runs the Pentagon as well as he throws an axe on a Fox News set.' This standoff between the Trump White House and California leaves lingering questions unanswered. For starters, are the protests as peaceful as the Democratic officials claim? And did California actually need the National Guard to help out? Newsom and Bass claimed the protests were peaceful. The Democratic governor went as far as to say the administration is purposefully 'sowing chaos.' Bass said the protests have been peaceful so far — a claim Utah Sen. Mike Lee disagreed with. 'Remember which elected officials are on the side of the people assaulting federal officers and waving foreign flags,' Lee said in another post. 'They created this situation, and whine when President Trump acts to resolve it through deportations and border security.' ICE targeted several areas in L.A. over the weekend, including a Home Depot close to a school where a graduation ceremony was taking place. On June 6, the agency said it faced an attack from protesters. 'Our brave officers were vastly outnumbered, as over 1,000 rioters surrounded and attacked a federal building,' said ICE acting director Todd Lyons. 'It took over two hours for the Los Angeles Police Department to respond, despite being called multiple times.' The same day, ICE arrested 118 undocumented immigrants. Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., on CNN's 'State of the Union' said federal authorities expect to conduct ICE enforcement raids for 30 days, and the federal troops are expected to aid ICE in this process. Tensions flared in L.A. on Sunday. Rep. Maxine Waters, while addressing two National Guard soldiers, said 'Who are you going to shoot?' 'If you're going to shoot me, you better shoot straight.' This state-sanctioned sanctuary city has become a focal point in the Trump administration's battle against illegal immigration. The administration's actions also serve as a warning to other deeply blue cities and states that they plan to crack down on illegal immigration even in places where state and local officials refuse to cooperate. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal funds from California as leverage in an attempt to shift the liberal state's politics. Late last month, Trump levied this threat over a transgender athlete's participation in a state girls' track meet. Amid reports of the Trump White House actively considering slashing federal grants dispersed to California universities, Newsom on Friday suggested California should withhold $80 billion in taxes. In response, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Politico 'the Trump administration is committed to ... restoring the California Dream.' Newsom claimed Trump didn't send the National Guard members 'because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle.' Bass told The Los Angeles Times that the Trump White House dismissed L.A.'s ability to handle the crisis. 'We tried to talk to the administration and tell them that there was absolutely no need to have troops on the ground here in Los Angeles,' she said on Sunday morning. 'The protests that happened last night in L.A. were relatively minor, about 100 protesters.'
USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
Trump border czar threatens LA arrests for anyone who may 'cross that line'
Trump border czar threatens LA arrests for anyone who may 'cross that line' When asked whether Newsom or Bass could be subject to arrest if they hinder operations, Tom Homan said, 'I'll say it about anybody. You cross that line, it's a felony.' Show Caption Hide Caption Trump orders troops to LA as agents, protesters clash over immigration President Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to combat violent protesters opposed to immigration enforcement. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan said immigration enforcement will continue in Los Angeles and did not rule out arrests for California officials if they interfere with the administration's efforts. In an interview with NBC News on June 7, Homan said, 'I'm telling you what, we're going to keep enforcing law every day in L.A. Every day in L.A., we're going to enforce immigration law. I don't care if they like it or not.' Trump had deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to quell the protests in Los Angeles, a move that was criticized by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Both Newsom and Bass have argued it would only escalate tensions in the area. Homan has previously warned that anyone who stands in the way of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations or harbors an undocumented immigrant would face consequences, such as arrest. When asked whether Newsom or Bass could be subject to arrest if they hinder operations on the ground, Homan said, 'I'll say it about anybody. You cross that line, it's a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It's a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.' He added that he doesn't think Bass has 'crossed the line yet.' But if she does, he said, 'we'll ask DOJ to prosecute.' The Department of Homeland Security said ICE operations have resulted in the arrests of 118 undocumented immigrants last week in Los Angeles, including five alleged gang members and others with criminal records for smuggling, drug trafficking and assault.
Politico
8 hours ago
- Politico
Escalating ICE raids pull California Democrats back into immigration fight
SAN FRANCISCO — The Trump administration's increasingly aggressive moves on immigration are pulling Democrats back into a border security debate they had tried to ignore. For months, Democrats scarred by the politics of the issue sought to sidestep President Donald Trump's immigration wars — focusing instead on the economy, tariffs or, in the case of deportations, due process concerns. But in the span of a week, that calculation was jolted in California, after a series of high-profile raids and arrests, including of a labor union leader and dozens of other people in Los Angeles, and with President Donald Trump on Saturday announcing the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to the area. In this citadel of Democratic politics, party officials from the governor's mansion to city halls are suddenly tearing into Trump on immigration again, inflaming a debate that worked to Trump's benefit in 2024 — but where Democrats believe they now have a political opening. 'We were wrong on the border,' said Rep. Scott Peters, a Democrat from San Diego who chided Immigration and Customs Enforcement over a raid at a popular restaurant in the city. 'But it is not hard to explain to average Americans why what's happening here is unproductive. It's so un-American, and it's so cruel.' Peters and other San Diego leaders — including Democratic Reps. Juan Vargas, Sara Jacobs and Mike Levin — were quick to condemn the recent raid on an Italian restaurant in the trendy South Park neighborhood, where around 20 masked agents stormed the restaurant and handcuffed workers as a rattled crowd looked on. Four undocumented immigrants were arrested. The lawmakers called the agents' tactics 'needlessly reckless' and said the heavy-handed approach 'terrorized' residents, noting agents used flash-bang grenades to disperse those who gathered outside to protest. But if the enforcement action was aggressive, the response from Democrats represented an escalation in their engagement on immigration, too. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat, had previously said little about Trump or his immigration policies in the early months of his second term — similar to other blue-city mayors in California who've sought to avoid drawing the president's ire. But in recent days, Gloria sharply criticized federal officials over the raids. And then came the immigration sweeps in Los Angeles, where union officials said the Service Employees International Union's state president, David Huerta, was injured and arrested. Rep. Derek Tran, a Democrat from Orange County, who last fall flipped a hotly contested GOP seat, said on X that he was 'appalled by this clear violation of first amendment rights,' while Rep. Jimmy Gomez called it part of a 'nationwide pattern of suppression.' Protests erupted in the city, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried immigration enforcement tactics she said 'sow terror in our communities.' 'These are fear-driven, military-style operations that have no place in a democratic society,' said Mark Gonzalez, a Democratic state Assemblymember whose downtown LA district was the epicenter of Friday's raids. The next day, when Trump announced the Guard's deployment, Democrats rushed to take a stand in a fight shifting from deportations to the deployment of the Guard. Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the measure as 'purposefully inflammatory.' And when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the U.S. military, too, Newsom posted on social media, 'This is deranged behavior.' In a note to his super PAC list, he said, 'These are not people who have some deep conviction about protecting law enforcement. This is a President who failed to call up the National Guard when it was actually needed — on January 6th — and then pardoned the participants as one of his first acts as president. They want a spectacle. They want the violence.' For the party at large, it's a notable swing from the immediate aftermath of Trump's victory in November, when many Democratic leaders in California and elsewhere sought to moderate on the issue — or at least strike a more muted tone than they did during Trump's first term. Polling suggests that voter frustration over Democrats' handling of border security and crime played a strong role in Trump's sweeping return to power, and many elected officials adjusted in response. Newsom was among them. He has avoided using the word 'sanctuary' to defend the state's immigration laws that limit police cooperation with ICE. He also vowed to veto a Democratic-led bill that would have applied such restrictions to state prisons and is now proposing steep cuts to a health care program for undocumented immigrants. Earlier this year, he suggested the legal fight over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident mistakenly deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in El Salvador — he is now back in U.S. custody and facing federal human trafficking charges — was a 'distraction' intended to take Democrats' focus away from other parts of Trump's agenda (Newsom's office later said his remarks were misconstrued). But in recent days, the governor has criticized federal deportation efforts, including reports that federal authorities threatened the family of a Bakersfield girl with a rare, life-threatening medical condition with deportation, despite the family earlier being granted humanitarian protection. 'The @GOP are sending a 4 year old off to her death without a care in the world. It's sick,' Newsom posted on X. The Trump administration has accused Democrats and the media of distorting the facts of the case, noting the girl wasn't actively being deported. Department of Homeland Security Officials said the family has since been approved to stay in the U.S. while she receives medical care. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email that the left's 'unhinged smears' of immigration-enforcement tactics have led to a surge of assaults on ICE agents. 'President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to deport illegal aliens,' she said. 'It's disturbing that Democrats would side with illegal aliens over Americans and stoke hatred against American law enforcement.' In a social media post, Trump said, 'If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!' ICE officials have also defended the agency's actions in the San Diego raids, saying agents wear masks due to escalating death threats and online harassment. The agency said it deployed flash-bang grenades when the crowd outside the restaurant 'became unruly' and posed a potential danger. Regarding the arrest of SEIU's leader, federal authorities said Huerta had blocked an ICE vehicle while agents were serving a warrant. Still, the headline-grabbing incidents and images of residents clashing with ICE agents have provided an opening for Democrats to put the Trump administration on the defensive — over raids, accounts of children being separated from their parents during ICE detentions and migrants being arrested in federal courthouses while attending legal proceedings. Recent polling suggests that after making gains with Latino voters in 2024, Trump's support among Latinos is falling off. 'It's one thing when you're talking about illegal aliens in the abstract,' said Mike Madrid, a veteran political consultant and anti-Trump Republican. 'It moved from the abstract to the real. It's cruelty for cruelty's sake, and that's where you're going to lose support.' Chris Newman, legal director with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said while Democrats were hurt in the 2024 election by the Biden administration's handling of immigration, the politics are shifting as Trump tries to carry out his promise of mass deportations. 'When you see these types of Gestapo-style tactics playing out in real life, the whole country is recoiling to that,' said Newman, who represents the family of Abrego Garcia. He has criticized Democrats, including Newsom, over their response to the Abrego Garcia case, which captured national headlines due to Trump's defiance of multiple federal court orders. In that case, Democrats focused their messaging not on the humanitarian toll of deportations, but due process and the rule of law. Newman said the latest raids show Democrats hesitant to attack Republicans over their immigration policies have misread the moment: 'The wrong lesson (from the 2024 election) is that immigration is inherently a losing issue for Democrats at the top level. The right lesson is that what … the American public wants is a clear, legible immigration policy.' Among the most outspoken California Democrats in recent days has been San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who was pilloried by conservative media outlets over his Instagram post that included a photo labeling ICE agents as 'terrorists' in the restaurant raid. The post drew national attention, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller accusing politicians on the left of 'openly encouraging violence against law enforcement to aid and abet the invasion of America.' Elo-Rivera, who's also a member of the progressive Working Families Party, said while the restaurant incident made headlines, it was indicative of more aggressive ICE actions that have rattled his district near the U.S.-Mexico border — tactics he argues are designed to stoke fear. He said while Democrats did a lot of 'hemming and hawing' post-election over the party's stance on immigration, they now have a chance to make a sharp contrast with the GOP by consistently advocating for the dignity and rights of migrants. 'Immigration is not a distraction for Democrats. We just need to have the conversation on our terms,' Elo-Rivera said. 'Unfortunately, there's folks that think they need to see a poll first before they take a position.'
