Alert: UN member nations vote overwhelmingly to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza, hostage release, food for all Palestinians
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — UN member nations vote overwhelmingly to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza, hostage release, food for all Palestinians.
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Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges in Tennessee federal court
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, pleaded not guilty on Friday to human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee. The plea was the first chance the Maryland construction worker has had in a U.S. courtroom to answer the Trump administration's allegations against him since he was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The Republican administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last week to face criminal charges related to what it said was a human smuggling operation that transported immigrants across the country. The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. His lawyers have called the allegations 'preposterous.' Friday's hearing will also focus on whether Abrego Garcia should be released from jail while awaiting trial on the smuggling charges. A federal judge will hear arguments from Abrego Garcia's lawyers and attorneys for the U.S. government. Before the hearing began in Nashville, Abrego Garcia's wife told a crowd outside a church that Thursday marked three months since the Trump administration 'abducted and disappeared my husband and separated him from our family.' Her voice choked with emotion, Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she saw her husband for the first time on Thursday. She said, 'Kilmar wants you to have faith,' and asked the people supporting him and his family ''to continue fighting, and I will be victorious because God is with us.'' Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador who had been living in the United States for more than a decade before he was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration. The expulsion violated a 2019 U.S. immigration judge's order that shielded him from deportation to his native country because he likely faced gang persecution there. While the Trump administration described the mistaken removal as 'an administrative error,' officials have continued to justify it by insisting Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang. His wife and attorneys have denied the allegations, saying he's simply a construction worker and family man. U.S. attorneys have asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes to keep Abrego Garcia in jail, describing him as a danger to the community and a flight risk. Abrego Garcia's attorneys disagree, pointing out he was already wrongly detained in a notorious Salvadoran prison thanks to government error and arguing due process and 'basic fairness' require him to be set free. The charges against Abrego Garcia are human smuggling. But in their request to keep Abrego Garcia in jail, U.S. attorneys also accuse him of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing the women he transported, among other claims, although he is not charged with such crimes. The U.S. attorneys also accuse Abrego Garcia of taking part in a murder in El Salvador. However, none of those allegations is part of the charges against him, and at his initial appearance June 6, the judge warned prosecutors she cannot detain someone based solely on allegations. One of Abrego Garcia's attorneys last week characterized the claims as a desperate attempt by the Trump administration to justify the mistaken deportation three months after the fact. 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' private attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. In a Wednesday court filing, Abrego Garcia's public defenders argued the government is not even entitled to a detention hearing — much less detention — because the charges against him aren't serious enough. Although the maximum sentence for smuggling one person is 10 years, and Abrego Garcia is accused of transporting hundreds of people over nearly a decade, his defense attorneys point out there's no minimum sentence. The average sentence for human smuggling in 2024 was just 15 months, according to court filings. The decision to charge Abrego Garcia criminally prompted the resignation of Ben Schrader, who was chief of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. He posted about his departure on social media on the day of the indictment, writing, 'It has been an incredible privilege to serve as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where the only job description I've ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.' He did not directly address the indictment and declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. However, a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter confirmed the connection. Although Abrego Garcia lives in Maryland, he's being charged in Tennessee based on a May 2022 traffic stop for speeding in the state. The Tennessee Highway Patrol body camera video of the encounter that was released to the public last month shows a calm exchange between officers and Abrego Garcia. It also shows the officers discussing among themselves their suspicions of human smuggling before sending him on his way. One of the officers says, 'He's hauling these people for money.' Another says Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in an envelope. Abrego Garcia was not charged with any offense at the traffic stop. Sandoval-Moshenberg, the private attorney, said in a statement after the video's release that he saw no evidence of a crime in the footage. Meanwhile, the lawsuit over Abrego Garcia's mistaken deportation isn't over. Abrego Garcia's attorneys have asked a federal judge in Maryland to impose fines against the Trump administration for contempt, arguing that it flagrantly ignored court orders forseveral weeks to return him. The Trump administration said it will ask the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it followed the judge's order to return him to the U.S. ___ This story has been corrected to show the Trump administration said that the human smuggling operation transported immigrants across the country, not that it brought immigrants into the country illegally. ___ Finley reported from Norfolk, Va.
New York Post
29 minutes ago
- New York Post
Key Trump officials like Gabbard, Vance quiet on Israel's attack on Iran as WH insists cabinet ‘united'
WASHINGTON — Key Trump administration officials are keeping mum and instead boosting the president's statements about Israel's attack on Iranian — even as the White House insists the cabinet is 'united' about the US response. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the first to respond to the attack publicly with a statement Thursday evening that 'Israel took unilateral action against Iran' and the US was 'not involved in strikes' — but others have yet to comment. 'We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran,' Trump posted on his Truth Social hours before the Israeli attack launched. Advertisement 5 Key Trump administration officials have been staying quiet or boosting the president's statements about Israel's airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, missile sites and military leaders. AP 'They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reposted Trump's statement hours before Israel's airstrikes that killed at least 20 senior military leaders and six nuclear scientists for the regime in Tehran. Advertisement The White House and other cabinet officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also boosted Rubio's or Trump's messages without issuing statements of their own. 5 'The cabinet is united in the president's actions,' a White House official affirmed to The Post. AP 'The cabinet is united in the president's actions,' a White House official affirmed to The Post. Trump's comments Friday morning were far more aggressive — he tore into Iranian officials for having botched their 'chance to make a deal' while emphasizing how the US supplies 'lethal military equipment' to Israel. Advertisement 'I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it,' Trump posted, in a statement that Vice President JD Vance reposted. 5 The White House and other cabinet officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also boosted Rubio's or Trump's messages without issuing statements of their own. AFP via Getty Images 'There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!' Rubio's comments had emphasized: 'Our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.' Advertisement 'President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel,' the secretary of state also said. 5 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reposted Trump's statement hours before Israel's airstrikes that killed at least 20 senior military leaders and six nuclear scientists for the regime in Tehran. Getty Images That statement had been crafted with White House input, with some disagreements arising about its precise phrasing, a Trump administration official later told Politico. Trump's administration has been staffed with more officials who support a non-interventionist foreign policy than in his first term, with conflicts in the Middle East — including earlier US strikes on Houthi terrorists in Yemen — dividing some cabinet members. 'President Trump has pledged to end wars, not start them,' Gabbard said when announcing that she'd left the Democratic Party at a Trump rally last October weeks before the 2024 election. 5 Trump's comments Friday morning — which were boosted by Vice President JD Vance — were far more aggressive in tearing into Iranian officials for having botched their 'chance to make a deal.' AP In an ominous video posted Wednesday, the director of national intelligence had also cautioned that the world was inching closer to the 'brink of nuclear annihilation,' after visiting Hiroshima, Japan. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who heavily backed Gabbard's appointment, struck a similar tone in a morning newsletter for his eponymous network, claiming it could be his final dispatch 'before an all-out war.' Advertisement Carlson also directly challenged Rubio's claim that the US was 'not involved.' 'The United States should not at any level participate in a war with Iran. No funding, no American weapons, no troops on the ground,' he wrote. '[T]here is another option: Drop Israel. Let them fight their own wars.' National security hawks in Congress took the opposite stance. 'Game on,' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tweeted after the bombs started falling. 'Pray for Israel.'
Hamilton Spectator
31 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Charles Rangel's funeral mass draws big names who celebrated the late congressman's life
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton, Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries remembered former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel's sharp wit, relentless advocacy for Harlem and extraordinary life of public service during a funeral mass for the late congressman in Manhattan on Friday. Rangel, a pioneering congressman and veteran of the Korean War, died on May 26 the age of 94. The mass, held at the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral, came a day after Rangel's body lay in state at New York City Hall , an honor bestowed to only a handful of political figures, including U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Clinton, who called Rangel one of the most effective members to ever serve in Congress, recalled the congressman's insistence on steering a critical economic program to his Harlem district when Clinton was president, helping to lower unemployment there. 'I don't think I ever knew a happier warrior than Charlie Rangel,' Clinton said. Rangel served in Congress for nearly five decades, becoming a dean of the New York congressional delegation and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as being the first first African American to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Before his time on Capitol Hill, he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his military service in the Korean War. Jeffries, the House Democratic Leader, told the crowd at the mass that 'America is better off today because of his service' and said, as a young congressman, that the legendary Rangel would simply call him Jeff. 'Now, Charlie Rangel would often call me Jeff. I believe it was short for Jeffries. But I never confirmed that. 'Cause this was Charlie Rangel, and so you go with the flow,' Jeffries said, smiling. Hochul called Rangel 'a giant in American life' and said she would move to rename a street in Harlem after the late congressman, who was sometimes called 'Lion of Lenox Avenue.' She thanked the attendees who came to the mass 'not to mourn Charlie, but to celebrate an extraordinary life.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
