Person in critical condition after being shot in head in Chelsea
A person sustained life-threatening injuries in a late-night shooting in Chelsea Wednesday, police said.
Chelsea police went to the area of Webster Avenue and Broadway around 10 p.m. Wednesday for a report of a possible stabbing. Arriving officers found a 33-year-old from Chelsea on the ground with a significant gunshot wound to their head, Police Chief Keith Houghton said in a statement.
The person was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they underwent emergency surgery, police said. They are listed in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
Detectives on scene collected ballistic evidence and are canvassing the area for video, Houghton said.
'This was a brazen act of violence in a busy area of our city,' he said in the statement.
Due to the severity of the person's injuries, police notified Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office of the shooting.
Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact police at 617-466-4810. Anonymous tips can be submitted on social media or at 617-466-4880.
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Boston Globe
12 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Once champions of fringe causes, now in a ‘trap of their own making'
Investigations into Epstein's 2019 death in a Manhattan prison cell found serious management errors but no evidence of criminality. Yet Trump, once a friend of the financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls, has long suggested Epstein was silenced by shadowy clients of his sex trafficking ring. In a 2023 episode of his popular podcast, Bongino, now the bureau's No. 2 official, implored listeners, 'Please do not let that story go.' Advertisement They obliged. A Trump-allied podcaster suggested the FBI leaders were 'beholden to some unseen powers.' A former FBI agent who has been critical of the bureau posted a parody of a law firm ad with Bongino standing next to a sign that read 'Trust Me & Bro Consulting.' Tucker Carlson, a friend of Bongino's, said Trump appointees were 'making a huge mistake, promising to reveal things and then not revealing them.' Alex Jones, a founding father of the modern conspiracy movement, referred to Patel's own handling of the Epstein case as flat-out 'gaslighting.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Patel and Bongino, partisan showmen placed in positions previously held by people with greater experience, earned their bona fides in Trump's camp by promoting conspiracy theories, making promises of what they would accomplish under Trump when he returned to power based on fictional or exaggerated premises, pledging to reveal deep-state secrets, and vowing swift vengeance on their enemies. Advertisement It has now fallen on Patel, Bongino, and Attorney General Pam Bondi to make good on the promises explicit and implied — or show how hard they are trying. But they are running what amounts to a conspiracy theory fulfillment center with unstocked shelves, critics say. 'Patel, Bongino, and the other leaders are caught in a trap of their own making,' said Russell Muirhead, a politics professor at Dartmouth College who has studied the role of conspiracy theories in American politics. 'The world they helped create, a world in which conspiracy destroys facts, is now the world they have to inhabit,' he added. Trump himself campaigned on the spurious idea that immigrant criminals had invaded the United States like a foreign army, but when courts began to reject that notion in a series of deportation cases centered on those his administration claimed had criminal records, his supporters blamed the judges, not him. He has flirted so often with the QAnon conspiracy theory, which falsely holds that prominent Democrats like Hillary Clinton are dangerous pedophiles, many followers still cannot fathom why Clinton and other plotters are not in prison. 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Advertisement Patel and other officials have claimed that releasing new material is difficult, and governed by the need to protect witnesses and Epstein's victims. Billionaire Elon Musk suggested another explanation in the wake of his falling-out with the president: Trump 'is in the Epstein files,' he wrote on social media Thursday, without providing evidence. 'That is why they have not been made public.' Spokespeople for the Justice Department and FBI did not return requests for comment. Patel and Bongino have limited their interactions to friendly podcasters or conservative outlets, claiming that the mainstream news media cannot be trusted to convey the truth. But those engagements also reflect an understanding that sustaining support on the right is essential for their survival, according to administration officials. 'I've been putting out the truth my entire career,' Patel told Joe Rogan, the popular podcaster who endorsed Trump, to explain his comments about the Epstein case. 'Why would I risk all of it on this guy?' But many people, including Jones, were not buying it. 'Damage control,' he growled on his show. The tension between practicing politics based on conspiracy theories and having to govern extends far beyond the FBI and the Justice Department's problems with the Epstein case. And those elevated to power by Trump know that the No. 1 rule is that he is never wrong and that their role is to absorb the criticism that cannot be aimed at him. Advertisement Days after the backlash over his Epstein comments, Bongino offered other promises — new investigations into other episodes that have gripped the president's base: the discovery of cocaine in the West Wing during the Biden administration, the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning abortion rights in 2022, and the discovery of pipe bombs near Republican and Democratic Party headquarters before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, an unsolved crime that has already consumed significant law enforcement resources. During another appearance on Fox, Bongino said the bureau was 'closing in on some suspects' in the planting of the bombs, while claiming that 'no one seemed to show any interest in this case.' In fact, investigators had conducted around 1,000 interviews, reviewed video evidence, and chased hundreds of tips before he arrived. Trump, far from distancing himself from fringe actors in his party after retaking office, has drawn them closer. Laura Loomer, who has baselessly claimed that the Sept. 11 attacks were 'an inside job' and suggested school shootings were a ruse, has become a regular visitor to the White House with outsize influence on personnel matters. Whether by design or happenstance, Bongino, a former midlevel Secret Service agent and New York City police officer, has emerged as the bureau's principal public defender, in addition to his official role running the bureau's day-to-day operations. The strain seems to be taking its toll. 'I gave up everything for this,' he lamented in another one of his Fox appearances. 'I stare at these four walls all day in D.C., by myself.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
The Hill
18 minutes ago
- The Hill
ICE moves to dismiss cases in bid to fast-track deportations after courthouse arrests
As Vadzim Baluty watched his son Aliaksandr Baluty get arrested by six plainclothes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers directly after an immigration court hearing, he had the sinking feeling he'd made a costly mistake. Vadzim Baluty, accompanying his son for his first court appearance in his asylum bid, agreed last month when an ICE prosecutor offered to drop the case against the recent Belarusian migrant, not realizing his son would be swiftly detained as soon as the pair exited the courtroom. 'I felt like we had fallen into a judicial trap,' he said in Russian through an interpreter in an interview with The Hill. 'We left the courtroom and an ICE officer told us our son was going to be deported in three days. Nobody told us the decision that we made — what it was going to cause.' ICE prosecutors across the country are increasingly moving to dismiss cases against migrants in a bid to fast track their deportations. While a dismissal might seem like the end of a battle to remain in the county, some leaving courthouses have instead been met by ICE agents who are then free to arrest them and place them in expedited removal proceedings, speeding their deportation without a court hearing. Rekha Sharma-Crawford, an immigration lawyer and board member with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) called it a 'bait and switch.' 'The troubling thing here is that people are doing the right thing and going to court. They hear what they think is great news, that their case is dismissed. But instead, they are subject to a bait and switch and a plainclothes ICE agent will then arrest them. They are detained and then they are pressured to sign documents that basically sign away all of their rights, and they are subject to expedited removal and don't have a chance for a full and fair hearing,' she said in a call with reporters. Vadzim Baluty, a 47-year-old Belarusian political activist who was granted asylum in 2022 after fleeing the Lukashenko dictatorship, thought ICE was aware of his petition to bring his children to the country. He also didn't think Aliaksandr Baluty, now 21, would be deported after entering the country legally. His son was permitted to enter the U.S. through Mexico after waiting in the country seven months for an appointment made through the Biden-era CBP One app. Such a dynamic has only become possible with the shift from the Trump administration, which has expanded the scope of expedited removals. While the process previously was used only for migrants within two weeks of their entering the country and within 100 miles of the border, the Trump administration now allows the tool to be used up to two years after a person enters the U.S. regardless of where they are in the country. Critics call the move an end run around due process and fault the administration for using ICE officers who are often not in uniform and may be wearing masks. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) went to an immigration courthouse in his district last week, sitting in on court proceedings and witnessing ICE prosecutors dismiss cases followed by migrants being arrested by plainclothes agents as they exited — something he called 'Gestapo-like behavior.' 'The Department of Homeland Security has implemented, over the last week, a coordinated effort to do an end run around our legal system in order to remove nonviolent, noncriminal immigrants trying to come into this country through a lawful pathway of immigration proceedings, and in many cases, asylum proceedings,' he said at a press conference afterward. 'By recommending dismissal of their cases, the Department of Homeland Security is essentially taking jurisdiction away from the court, removing the asylum application from going forward, and then allowing the immigration agents to arrest these people and put them in a deportation proceeding under a different authority than the one that they just dismissed, which has fewer rights and applies in very few circumstances.' Sharma-Crawford said it's especially confusing for pro se litigants — those representing themselves in court. Not only are they being approached by plainclothes officers, but they may not know what to do next. Those placed in expedited removal are not entitled to a hearing, but they can request an interview with an asylum officer if they fear they will be persecuted if returned to their home country. If they pass that screening, their case could be returned to immigration court. Vadzim Baluty has since hired attorney Malinda Schmiechen to represent his son, who asked for the credible fear interview that would route his case back into the immigration court system. Aliaksandr Baluty told them how during a visit to register for the mandatory draft, military officials in the country made a veiled comment about his father and said they were going to teach him to 'love the motherland.' Another officer in the room said, 'You will be in the army for your father.' 'The draft officer said that I — in the army — I would be punished for my father,' Aliaksandr Baluty told an asylum officer, according to a transcript of the interview his attorney shared with The Hill. At his father's advice, Aliaksandr Baluty fled that night to nearby Georgia. Military officials later showed up at his mother's house with a forged conscription document, saying they would prosecute him as a draft dodger. Schmiechen was informed Thursday night, however, that an asylum officer rejected the claim, calling it 'a betrayal all around.' 'I feel like this is a betrayal against our law, against the America that is a sanctuary for so many, and against young Aliaksandr, who fled for his life and seeks to live peacefully with his family,' Schmiechen told The Hill. 'It's a betrayal because the government attorneys betrayed the law with their motion to dismiss, knowing that it would lead to Aliaksandr's detention. It's a betrayal because the American government is using taxpayer money unnecessarily to detain Aliaksandr, and it's a betrayal to Aliaksandr, whose detention is treating him like a criminal, though he's not one.' The arrests come as the GOP at large has vented frustration at the immigration court system, where cases can languish in a years-long backlog. The Department of Homeland Security defended the courthouse arrests as well as their use of expedited removal. 'Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,' the department said in a statement. 'If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.' Goldman also criticized ICE for using plainclothes officers, saying that in his observations, agents had printed out photos of those they would be arresting and were often wearing masks. 'When I asked them, 'Why are you wearing a mask?' One person told me, 'Because it's cold.' I asked him if he would testify to that under oath, and he walked away and wouldn't respond to me,' he said. 'Another person admitted that they were wearing masks so that they are not caught on video. And my question to them is: 'If what you are doing is legitimate, is lawful, is totally aboveboard, why do you need to cover your face?'' Schmiechen said she's working quickly to explore other options for Aliaksandr Baluty, including requesting that his credible fear claims be reviewed by an immigration court judge. If that doesn't work, she's planning to make a filing in federal court. 'I just feel like we don't have much time at this point,' she said. To Vadzim Baluty, the whole episode has chilling parallels with what he experienced in Belarus. 'This is how it began,' he said. The arrest of his son, just feet from the courthouse doors, happened in less than 60 seconds and left him in shock. He said he never imagined the words 'stop prosecution' could have led to 'expulsion from the country and separation of father and son.' 'Everything is starting to remind us that we are not in a free country. What is happening today is vaguely reminiscent of the birth of a dictatorship, when they categorically begin to solve the political issue at the moment with immigration,' he said. 'I don't feel safe now. None of the immigrants feel safe in the U.S.'
New York Post
18 minutes ago
- New York Post
Progressive states that care not for laws or the border are the ones tearing us apart
The whole nation has been watching the anti-ICE 'protests' playing out on television, and I cannot help but be struck by the multiplicity of ironies. Once upon a time — and not so long ago — immigration enforcement actions took place at worksites, in Los Angeles and many other locations, with such regularity that no one would have paused to bat an eye. Now they are the cause of riots and assaults on federal officers and property, while state and local governments slow-walk law enforcement responses for something as fundamental as protecting the safety of those officers. It is as if these levels of government have a detached notion of 'federalism' that runs only one way: they can levy demands on the federal government, usually involving massive amounts of money and other assistance, while recognizing no obligations in return. What we are seeing, although it has become all too pervasive in progressive hot spots, is not normal. It is the confluence of permissive policies toward crime and violence in blue-run cities and states, with the flooding of the border that took place over the entire length of the Biden administration. During those four years, anywhere from 10 to 14 million aliens entered the country either illegally or under transparently bogus programs designed to facilitate their entry, and all of them apparently believe they have a right to be here — even as they wave foreign flags while tossing Molotov cocktails or setting cars on fire. I have heard a number of politicians and journalists decry the wearing of masks by federal officers (who very reasonably fear being doxxed, putting their families at risk), but I have yet to hear one of them ask why the rioters who shut down traffic, vandalize property and fling bottles, bicycles and other objects at the officers, are also masked. It goes unremarked because the reason is clear: they do not want to be identified and held responsible for their mayhem. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters The difference in reasoning and motivation between the officers and the protesters could not be any more stark. But as we watch lawless rioters go unchecked while federal efforts are stymied by the courts at every turn, some of us may be wondering whether the Constitution has in fact morphed into a suicide pact, given the imbalance that has become apparent in the three branches of government. The judiciary, once described as the 'weakest' branch, has come to wield entirely too much power when a select few district court judges can throw so much sludge into the wheels of government that they grind to a halt. The conclusion that I, and I suspect most Americans, draw from what we are seeing and hearing is that this administration is not only on the right track where immigration enforcement is concerned, but that time is indeed of the essence, and the stakes are incredibly high, if we are to heal from the deliberate rending of the social fabric that has taken place. Dan Cadman is a Center for Immigration Studies fellow and a retired INS/ICE official with 30 years of government experience.
