Tampa woman deported to Cuba pleads with president
A breastfeeding mother to a 1-year-old and wife of a U.S. citizen, Heidy Sánchez is pleading with President Donald Trump to help her go back to Tampa and reunite with her family.
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Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Multiple immigration sweeps reported across L.A., with a tense standoff downtown
In a show of force in the heart of Los Angeles, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Friday carried out a series of immigration sweeps, including two downtown that sparked a tense standoff. Videos showed federal agents running after people in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Westlake, not far from downtown Los Angeles. A man recording the video can be heard warning people in Spanish that immigration officials were at the location and to stay away. Another raid occurred at a business in the Garment District near 9th and Towne streets, with agents in riot gear detaining workers at a clothing store as dozens of people began to gather outside. As workers were hauled off in cuffs, throngs of people yelled at the agents and held up cellphones to record them, according to videos of the showdown. One person threw eggs at one of the vehicles as agents pushed members of the public back, the videos showed. In the street, immigrant-rights advocates stood on a bed of a truck, using megaphones to speak to the workers inside the store, reminding them of their constitutional rights and instructing them not to sign anything or say anything to federal agents. They also told the agents that lawyers wanted access to the workers, and sometimes called out specific names. 'I want to talk to my clients Luis Lopez and Michel Garcia. We are here," one person could be heard saying. "The community is here with you. Your family is here with you." Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE, said federal agents in downtown Los Angeles were executing search warrants related to the harboring of people illegally in the country. At least 44 people were arrested and one for obstructing No other details were provided. The raids are the latest in a string of high-profile immigration enforcement actions over the last week, part of President Trump's promised deportation crackdown. A few days ago, immigration agents raided a popular San Diego restaurant and made arrests, sparking a standoff with outraged residents. Agents also arrested Chinese and Taiwanese nationals at an underground nightclub in the Los Angeles area. Officials from the Service Employees International Union said in a statement that its California president, David Huerta, was detained and injured during a downtown raid "while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity." An SEIU spokesperson said Huerta was taken to LA County General Hospital for his injuries and later released into federal custody. In a post on X, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said federal agents were executing a lawful judicial warrant at a LA worksite "when David Huerta deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle." he wrote. "He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday." Friday's actions were met with criticism from L.A. leaders, who oppose the immigration crackdown. "These actions are escalating: agents arrive without warning and leave quickly, aware that our communities mobilize fast," Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said in a statement. "I urge Angelenos to stay alert." Mayor Karen Bass said that such raids "sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city... We will not stand for this.' Among the names immigration advocates called out Friday during the downtown L.A. raid was that of Marco Garcia, 37. Outside, his daughter, 18-year-old Katia Garcia, peered into the store as federal agents swept through the location. "I'm in disbelief," she said. "I can't believe this is happening." Katia Garcia, a U.S. citizen, said she was notified about her father's situation by phone, left school and headed to the clothing store. She said her father is undocumented and has been in the U.S. for 20 years. "We never thought this would happen to us," she said. The crowd remained mostly peaceful, but photos and videos of the scene showed some unmarked vehicles used by ICE had been vandalized with graffiti. As agents whisked away workers in white SUVs, members of the crowd walked and ran alongside the vehicles, videos from the scene showed. At one point, a man backpedaling in front of a departing SUV was nearly run over when he tripped and fell in front of the vehicle. The SUV reversed and sped around him, the videos showed. Two miles away, near the intersection of 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, FBI agents were spotted at a warehouse associated with the raid at 9th and Towne streets. A crowd had gathered outside the gates of the business, where agents arrested Huerta. Ilse Escobar, a United Teachers Los Angeles political organizer, told The Times she saw a scuffle take place before seeing Huerta being thrown to the ground by a federal agent. "I told him, you just arrested a labor union president," Escobar said. The Los Angeles Fire Department said at least one person was transported to a local hospital from that location. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a written statement that his department was aware that ICE was conducting operations in the city. 'I'm aware that these actions cause anxiety for many Angelenos, so I want to make it clear: the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement," he said. "While the [department] will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual's immigration status." McDonnell said since 1979, the department's policy has barred officers from initiating police action solely to determine a person's immigration status, and it will continue to focus on reducing crime and enhancing public safety. "I want everyone, including our immigrant community, to feel safe calling the police in their time of need and know that the LAPD will be there for you without regard to one's immigration status," he said. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has pushed ICE to start making at least 3,000 arrests a day, an effort that is reflected in the rising detention numbers by ICE, which have topped more than 50,000 for the first time since Trump's first presidency, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that tracks the federal government's enforcement activities. This week, CBS reported that ICE had recorded 2,000 arrests each day, a dramatic increase from the daily average of 660 arrests reported by the agency during Trump's first 100 days back at the White House. Ron Gochez, a member of Unión del Barrio, an independent political organization advocating for immigrant rights and social justice, said his group has been "flooded" with calls about immigration sweeps taking place. "There were ICE agents at a Home Depot in Cypress Park, there's ICE agents at Wilshire Boulevard and Union Avenue, a construction site in North Hollywood and in South L.A.," he said in a phone interview. "They're everywhere." Times staff writer Joseph Serna contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How Europe could go ‘Mega' by 2027
Poland's new president is a Trump-inspired nationalist. The government in the Netherlands has just been felled by an anti-migrant firebrand. Right-wing parties are already in government in Hungary and Italy, and in Berlin, the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the main opposition after it was endorsed by JD Vance and Elon Musk in the February elections. As Europe begins a cycle of crucial elections over the next two and a half years, the radical insurgent Right has the momentum. By 2027, there could be eight nationalist prime ministers in the 27-member-strong European Union, which has already swung to the Right. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's White House is determined to 'Make Europe Great Again'. Allies in the right places could prove very useful to Mr Trump, who accuses the EU of trying to 'screw' the US on trade and through the regulation of American technology firms. If 2027 is the year Europe does indeed go 'Mega', there will be serious ramifications for EU policies on migration, Ukraine and net zero, as well as a push to assert national leadership over Brussels. Experts believe this week's win in Poland and ructions in the Netherlands will bolster the 'Mega' wing in Europe with proof of concept. 'I don't believe in domino effects, but I do believe in a demonstration effect,' said Pawel Zerka, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. In other words, people in other countries are aware of and influenced by politics elsewhere. 'The biggest demonstration effect is coming not from other European countries, but from the US,' he said. 'The election of Donald Trump gives a legitimacy boost and a confidence boost to plenty of the far-Right parties across Europe and their electorates.' Many of the parties had 'ever tighter links to the Maga movement' and 'practical support' to get better results, he said. Geert Wilders led his Party for Freedom (PVV) to the hard-Right's first-ever general election win in November 2023. But the 'Dutch Trump' was forced to sacrifice his dream of being prime minister in coalition talks after his shock victory on a platform of 'zero asylum'. This time, he would become prime minister, he told reporters in The Hague, as he vowed to once again defeat the establishment conservative and Left-wing parties in October. The shock-headed populist may struggle to repeat the trick, or to find willing coalition partners, after toppling the government for not backing his hardline migration plans. Current polls have him with a narrow lead of one percentage point over the Left-wing GroenLinks-PvdA. But Mr Wilders was enjoying highs of 50 per cent before forming a coalition government that struggled to implement its strictest ever asylum policy. He is banking on those numbers recovering, and White House officials have already made clear he has Mr Trump's backing. With enough vote share, he could form a new conservative coalition with the pro-business VVD, provided it also posts strong results. Tellingly, its leader has not yet ruled out a second alliance with Mr Wilders. Mr Trump hosted Karol Nawrocki at the White House before the Law and Justice-backed former historian won a knife-edge victory on June 1. The role of president is largely ceremonial in Poland, but it comes armed with the power of veto over new legislation. Law and Justice (PiS) won the popular vote (35.4 per cent), but fell short of a majority at the last general election in Poland. Donald Tusk, who won 30.7 per cent of the vote, cobbled together a large and unwieldy centrist coalition to take power. Since then, prime minister Tusk has sought to steer Poland back to the European mainstream. His reforms, including the liberalisation of some of Europe's strictest abortion laws, are set to be frustrated by Mr Nawrocki's vetoes. Mr Tusk has called for a vote of confidence on June 11 to shore up his restive coalition, which is trailing PiS in the polls. Even if that passes, it looks very unlikely his government will survive to the end of its term in 2027, and while it is unclear who the PiS's candidate could be in the next general election, a hard-Right prime minister is not unlikely. Businessman turned politician Andrej Babis is leading in the surveys – consistently polling about 30 per cent – ahead of October's general election in the Czech Republic. The last election saw him lose to a Conservative-Liberal coalition by just a handful of votes. Babis's party, ANO, obtained 27.13 per cent of the vote, while Spolu, which leads the coalition of the current government, won 27.79 per cent of the vote. If he scrapes together a few more votes, the populist will become prime minister for the second time. During his first spell in office, he donned a Trump-style red baseball cap. A Babis victory would mean that he, and potentially Mr Wilders, would join the highly influential European Council, which meets regularly in Brussels to give the EU institutions political direction. At present, the hard-Right have Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Hungary's Viktor Orban in the room, but their numbers could double by the end of the year to include Mr Babis and Mr Wilders. Mr Orban nailed his colours to Mr Trump's mast a long time ago and is a darling of American conservatives. The EU's longest-serving prime minister is looking to win a fifth consecutive term in office in elections in 2026. In 2022, his party obtained 54.13 per cent of the vote – the highest vote share obtained by any party in Hungary since the fall of Communism in 1989. His policies, such as laws insisting Hungary only legally recognises two genders, have drawn praise and emulation from Maga supporters. But he has angered Western EU member states by opposing sanctions on the Kremlin and banning gay pride marches. Mr Orban is currently the most vocal nationalist leader in calling for pan-European alliances of hard-Right parties to radically reform the EU. His party is in a European Parliament alliance with the parties led by Mr Wilders, Marine Le Pen, Ms Meloni's coalition partner Matteo Salvini, and Spain's Vox. Prime minister Ulf Kristersson's coalition is propped up by the hard-Right Sweden Democrats, which remains formally outside of government despite coming second in a 2022 election dominated by fears over immigration and crime. The far-Right nearly doubled their vote share between 2014 and 2022, from 12.86 per cent to 20.54 per cent, which is largely down to the Sweden Democrats. The Sweden Democrats have exerted considerable influence over the government and its agenda. The question is whether voters will give Jimmie Akesson enough of a mandate to finally bust the taboo that has so far kept a party partially founded by Nazi sympathisers from being formally in government. Giorgia Meloni has emerged as a genuine stateswoman since she took power in 2022, and experts believe her example of government has made the hard-Right in Europe more credible. She has kept her Right-wing coalition together, which is no easy task in Italy. She positioned herself as a mediator between the EU and Mr Trump while successfully spearheading a drive to get Brussels' tacit backing for offshore migrant detention camps. Thanks to her, the Italian hard-Right's vote share has risen from just 1.97 per cent in 2013 to 27.2 per cent in 2022, and she will be optimistic of another victory in 2027's general election. She has much in common politically with Mr Orban, but they are divided over Ukraine, which has split the European hard-Right. She shares a European political party with Poland's Law and Justice, which is hawkish on Russia and will be contesting the general election in 2027 if Mr Tusk's vote of confidence passes next week. Spain's conservatives won the popular vote – 33.1 per cent – in the last general election, but fell short of a majority. Their potential coalition allies, Vox, the far-Right and Trump allied nationalists, underperformed, obtaining just 12.4 per cent of the vote. That opened the door for socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez to assemble an extremely broad coalition of the centre-Left, communists and Catalan and Basque separatists. Polarised Spain's culture wars have only got worse in the years since the 2023 election and the start of the divisive Mr Sanchez's second term. The pardoning of Catalan separatists and political discussions with former terrorists, as well as corruption allegations about his wife and allies, could cost him in 2027. Emmanuel Macron called snap parliamentary elections, effectively daring the French to hand over power to the hard-Right, after Marine Le Pen's National Rally defeated him in the European Parliament elections last summer. National Rally did not get a majority, after a group of different parties united to keep out the hard-Right. But Mr Macron's party lost its majority in the National Assembly and has been a lame duck domestically ever since. Head of the largest single party in France, Ms Le Pen is well positioned for presidential elections in 2027, in which Mr Macron cannot stand. But Ms Le Pen was banned from running for the presidency in March after being found guilty of embezzlement. It drew immediate comparisons to the 'lawfare' waged on Mr Trump, who offered his support. She is appealing, but her protege Jordan Bardella will run in her stead if necessary. Polls are showing that either could win against Gabriel Attal, a contender to succeed Mr Macron as candidate – if they were to run. Ms Le Pen would beat him 53 per cent to 47 per cent, Bardella by 52 per cent to 48 per cent. The question is whether the 'front republican' will once again emerge in the second round of the presidential elections to keep the National Rally from power. Or, as it did this week in Poland, fall just short. The election of a Eurosceptic leader to the presidency of France, the EU's most influential member state alongside Germany, would be a political earthquake that would shake Brussels to its core. Andre Krouwel, who teaches political science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said the populist parties in Europe were comparing notes as they plotted their routes to power. He said: 'They use the success and failure of other parties to learn from and use in campaigns. You see a lot of copying of strategies, such as victim playing or attacking so-called elites.' In general, traditional parties had an advantage in their experience and ability to govern, he added. Mr Wilders' decision to pull the plug on his coalition was an example that proved populists were 'good at saying things, not doing them.' The parties were also 'super-unstable' and given to infighting. For Prof Krouwel, the rise of the populist Right across Europe has its roots in economic anxiety as well as fears over immigration. 'There was always an expectation that your children will do better than you. You can't say that now,' he said, adding that Dutch children were staying home far longer because they can't afford to move out. 'We are all becoming southern Europe and that is an explanation for the populist surge,' he said. Maria Skora, visiting researcher at the European Policy Centre think tank in Brussels, said there were certain broad trends common to many EU countries where the hard Right was on the rise. There have been 15 years of difficulties, including the eurozone and migrant crises. The pandemic was followed by the war in Ukraine and the resulting cost of living crisis. That all contributed to the sense that traditional parties were not delivering. Meanwhile, parties like the AfD were extremely effective at using social media and digital campaigning. 'It's a digital revolution, as big a revolution as you know, radio back in the day,' Ms Skora said. 'I think this feeds into this tribalism and polarisation, which we see in more countries.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Fox News
40 minutes ago
- Fox News
Federal judge approves $2.8B settlement allowing schools to directly pay college athletes
A federal judge granted final approval on Friday to the $2.8 billion settlement that will allow colleges and universities to begin paying athletes directly. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement on Friday that will allow schools to pay their athletes next month. The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years. Payouts will be determined based on the sport and the length of athletic career, with most football and men's basketball players able to receive nearly $135,000 each. However, the highest estimated payout is expected to be nearly $2 million, thanks to "Lost NIL Opportunities," according to the law firm. Nearly five years after Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing, Wilken approved the final proposal that had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes will lose their chance to play college sports. The deal covers three antitrust cases — including the class-action lawsuit known as House vs. the NCAA — that challenged NCAA compensation rules dating back to 2016. The plaintiffs claimed that NCAA rules denied thousands of athletes the opportunity to earn millions of dollars off the use of their names, images and likenesses. The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes earning money through endorsement and sponsorship deals in 2021. At one point, President Donald Trump was considering an executive order to regulate name, image and likeness in college sports after meeting with legendary Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Fox News last year, Saban urged Congress to step in and make NIL "equal across the board." "And I think that should still exist for all players, but not just a pay-for-play system like we have now where whoever raises the most money in their collective can pay the most for the players, which is not a level playing field. I think in any competitive venue, you want to have some guidelines that gives everyone an equal opportunity to have a chance to be successful," he said. The settlement also called for a clearinghouse to make sure any NIL deal worth more than $600 is pegged at fair market value in an attempt to thwart supposed pay-for-play deals. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
