New England ship company admits to dumping oil waste in Gulf of Mexico
On Tuesday, company officials of Eagle Ship Management LLC pleaded guilty to violations of the 1980 Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and was given a fine of more than $1.7 million.
"Today's announcement sends a clear message intended to deter deliberate pollution," stated Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson for Louisiana's Eastern District. "This office will continue to work with our agency partners to enforce the laws that were designed to protect U.S. ports and waters."
In addition, the Stamford-based ESM would be ordered to serve a four-year probation term to include an external company audit by an independent source if court-approved.
The U.S. Coast Guard initiated its investigation after a crew member on the foreign-flagged bulk vessel "Gannet Bulker" sent it a tip on social media in March 2021 soon after the purported incident near the Mississippi River's mouth, according to court documents.
ESM admitted in its guilty plea that Gannet ship officers "engaged in a variety of obstructive acts to conceal the internal flooding that was caused by a botched repair."
Records show the unidentified crewman said the Gannet's engine room flooded and that the ship's oil-contaminated bilge pumper offloaded the toxic waste overnight.
Flooded bilges can pose a number of dangers to a ship and its crew.
Federal officials noted that the incident took place without required safety equipment or proper bookkeeping.
"The criminal conduct involved here was serious, including intentional pollution and a deliberate coverup," said Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Adam Gustafson of DOJ's environment and natural resources division.
Meanwhile, the ship's unidentified captain was prosecuted and later sentence to a year and a day behind bars for his role in the incident.
Officials stated that among the obstructive acts was retaliation against a whistleblower with a known identity to the company. They added that Gannet's senior officer and other crew members lied to Coast Guard officials, destroyed control room information as evidence and "created false and backdated personnel evaluations intended to discredit the whistleblower."
It's the second known similar instance in recent years of a ship offloading oil into the waters off the coast of New Orleans.
In September, the captain of a Turkish ship was given eight months in prison and his company fined $2 million after crew, likewise, rid their carrier of oil waste into open water.
Sentencing for Connecticut's Eagle Ship Management is scheduled for October 16.
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USA Today
10 hours ago
- USA Today
Bondi pledged 'transparency' on Epstein files, but grapples with how much
The U.S. attorney general and former top law enforcement official from Florida finds herself at the heart of the debate over whether more information will be disclosed on the alleged sex trafficker. WASHINGTON – Attorney General Pam Bondi is at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein storm. She was among the loudest voices calling for transparency in the Epstein case both before and after becoming the country's top law enforcement officer. But a firestorm of criticism erupted after Bondi's Justice Department issued a statement nearly three weeks ago confirming Epstein died by suicide and saying no further records would be released. Now, Bondi, 59, finds herself at the heart of the debate over whether more information will be disclosed on the alleged sex trafficker. More: 'Terrific guy': The Trump-Epstein party boy friendship lasted a decade, ended badly Despite his death six years ago, Epstein's case continues to haunt the headlines because of rampant speculation about which rich and powerful people might have joined him in sexually abusing minors. Bondi has said there was no client list in Epstein's criminal file. But President Donald Trump's name reportedly appears in the documents, and he was a repeat passenger on Epstein's private jet when the two were friends in the 1990s. Trump has denied wrongdoing or visiting Epstein's private island, where much of the abuse allegedly occurred. 'The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep," said White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, referring to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida. Meanwhile, Bondi served as Florida's state attorney general years after Palm Beach County authorities convicted Epstein on prostitution charges and released him in 2009 after 13 months in detention, which was mostly work release. Federal authorities chose not to prosecute Epstein at all, in what critics called the legal 'deal of the century.' After a Miami Herald investigation of his case, New York-based federal prosecutors charged Epstein in July of 2019 with sex trafficking minors. He died in jail a month after his arrest and long before any criminal trial could happen, in what the New York medical examiner ruled and the Justice Department confirmed was a suicide. Now Bondi has asked federal judges to release grand jury transcripts in the case. One has already turned her down and another asked for more documentation. And federal prosecutors and Bondi's No. 2, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, met July 24 and again on 25 with Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to sexually abuse minors. Here are the highlights of Bondi's involvement in the case. Did Bondi investigate Epstein as Florida attorney general? After years of state-level investigation, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18. During the inquiry, then-Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter disagreed with how Palm Beach state attorney Barry Krischer was handling the case and invited then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, an appointee from the George W. Bush administration, to investigate. But in what critics called the legal "deal of century," Epstein served 13 months on the two state charges under an agreement not to charge him federally. Bondi, a Republican, was elected statewide more than a year after Epstein was released and served as Florida's attorney general for two terms from 2011 to 2019. State attorneys such as Krischer are elected independently and don't report directly to the attorney general. Dave Aronberg, a Democrat who stepped down this year after a dozen years as Palm Beach state attorney, said the Epstein matter never went before Bondi. 'Zero overlap,' said Aronberg, who also served as Florida's state drug czar under Bondi. 'It was long over by the time she got there.' Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said after state and federal prosecutors concluded their case there appeared to be nothing more for Bondi to pursue. 'There was no reason to start a new investigation,' Jarvis said, unless new evidence was brought to Bondi's office. Bondi said Epstein never should have been released Still, with accusations of more than 1,000 victims in the case, Republicans and conspiracy theorists have long argued for the release of additional information because of skepticism Epstein died by suicide and demands for a presumed client list that could lead to more prosecutions. Two days after Epstein died, Bondi told Sean Hannity on Fox News on Aug. 12, 2019, that he should have never been let out of custody. More: Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, awaiting sex trafficking charges, dead of apparent suicide 'Well, he should have never been released when he was in jail serving his jail time. Someone who is accused of sex crimes convicted should never be on work release,' Bondi said. 'So what do we have now? We have a dead, most likely pedophile, coward, and we have very brave victims who wants to face the person that did this to them.' Bondi pledged to release information after becoming attorney general Shortly after her early February confirmation as Trump's second-term U.S. attorney general, Bondi again highlighted the case and began pledging to release files. Fox News host John Roberts asked Bondi on Feb. 21 whether she would release the list of Epstein's clients. 'Will that really happen?' he asked. "It's sitting on my desk right now to review,' Bondi replied. 'That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that." Then Bondi told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Feb. 26 more information would be released. "I think tomorrow, Jesse, breaking news right now, you're going to see some Epstein information being released by my office." She then added, "What you're going to see, hopefully tomorrow, is a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information." The Justice Department released documents on Feb. 27 that had previously been leaked, but were never formally released. "The Department remains committed to transparency and intends to release the remaining documents upon review and redaction to protect the identities of Epstein's victims," a department statement said. The lack of revelations in the release disappointed lawmakers and others who expected bombshells from the release. "THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, wrote on social media Feb. 27. "GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!" Bondi made a point of noting in a Feb. 27 letter to FBI Director Kash Patel that she had requested "the full and complete files related to Jeffrey Epstein" but learned she received only a fraction of them. She initially received about 200 pages, "which consisted primarily of flight logs, Epstein's list of contacts, and a list of victims' names and phone numbers," she wrote. But the FBI field office in New York notified her that day there were thousands more pages of records, audio and video recordings, and other materials related to Epstein and his clients. "There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access," Bondi wrote Patel. "The Department of Justice will ensure that any public disclosure of these files will be done in a manner to protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law, as I have done my entire career as a prosecutor." Appearing on Hannity's FOX News program, Bondi on March 3 said that an order she issued in February resulted in a "truckload" of Epstein files being delivered by the FBI. "Thousands of pages of documents. I have the FBI going through them," Bondi said. "We believe in transparency, and America has the right to know." Justice Department release on Epstein sparks criticism Against that backdrop, the Justice Department released a memo July 7 that said a 'systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list'' and confirmed Epstein died by suicide in August 2019. "Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither" to combat child exploitation nor bring justice to victims, according to the memo. "No further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.' More: Family feud: Trump at odds with MAGA movement on multiple fronts The memo set off a firestorm of criticism from inside Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement and calls for the release of more information: The next day at a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump discouraged reporters from asking questions about Epstein. 'Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,' Trump said as he preferred to talk about legislative victories and recovery efforts for Texas flood damage. 'It just seems like a desecration. But you go ahead.' Two seats to Trump's right at the July 8 Cabinet meeting, Bondi then tried to clarify her remarks from the February interview with John Roberts that she was referring to the entire Epstein file, rather than a specific client list. "I was asked a question about the client list and my response was, 'It's sitting on my desk to be reviewed,' meaning the file, not the client list,' she told reporters. Bondi also said jailhouse video from New York was missing a minute because of a nightly reset for the aged recording system. And she said any of Epstein's videos from the investigation would never 'see the light of day" because they contain child pornography. 'Also, to the tens of thousands of video, they turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein,' Bondi said. 'Child porn is what they were. Never going to be released. Never going to see the light of day.' Lawmakers seek release of Epstein file The Trump administration denials raised suspicions there was something to hide. Democrats piled on with Republicans to demand more information. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, joined Massie on the proposed legislation that aims to force the Justice Department to release all its records related to Epstein. More: Is Trump in the Epstein files? Before Bondi's reported alert, here is where he appeared By mid-July, with the tempest rising, Trump directed Bondi to seek the release of grand jury testimony in the case. Bondi filed three requests July 18. It wasn't enough to help out House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, who suspended House floor action days before the scheduled August recess rather than face a vote on Massie's legislation. Johnson, a close Trump ally, said his decision for lawmakers' early dismissal was to 'give the president space' to resolve questions about the investigation. He added that members of Congress were threading a fine needle trying to secure the release of information about Epstein while protecting his victims. Trump 'wants maximum transparency but he's also very insistent that we do not subject people who have already been victims of unspeakable crimes to further public scrutiny,' Johnson told reporters July 22. 'It would be a very dangerous thing to put those people's names out or do a release of information in a way that is haphazard, where they could be easily unmasked.' More: Republicans still have an Epstein dilemma. Now they have to face voters. "As things are revealed and, I hope will take place quickly, you will see that it is yet another Democrat CON JOB," Trump wrote on social media July 24. "Hopefully, the Grand Jury Files will put an end to this HOAX. Everyone should see what is there, but people who are innocent should not be hurt." Judges review requests to unseal Epstein file One big challenge for Bondi and the Trump administration as they push for more disclosures: Grand jury evidence traditionally remains confidential. U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach quickly refused to unseal the documents. The judge, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said the Bondi-led department's request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public. Rosenberg said her "hands are tied." U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York, another Obama appointee who presided over Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell's case, said there are exceptions to the secrecy rules but that Bondi hadn't invoked them. Engelmayer set a July 29 deadline for the government to explain why the disclosure is being sought, what specific information should be disclosed and whether grand jury witnesses are still alive. He also asked for a complete set of transcripts, a redacted version for potential release and a list of other evidence such as exhibits. Maxwell, an associate of Epstein who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to sexually abuse minors, has until Aug. 5 to say whether she agrees to disclosure or opposes it. Victims face an Aug. 5 deadline to state their positions. 'The Court intends to resolve this motion expeditiously,' Engelmayer wrote. 'However, the Court cannot rule on the motion without additional submissions.' Federal prosecutors meet with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche - who previously served as Trump's private lawyer defending him in a series of criminal cases - met July 24 and 25 with Maxwell to find out what more she can say about her dealings with Epstein. 'If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,' Blanche in a statement on social media on July 22 while planning the meeting. But Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York, argued Blanche's effort was to protect Trump 'by tacitly floating a pardon for Maxwell in return for information that politically benefits President Trump.' "Maxwell's information is only as credible as any corroboration found in the Epstein files, including recordings, witness interviews, electronic communications, and photographs and videos,' said Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who served as lead counsel in Trump's first House impeachment and battled against a presidential defense team that included Bondi. "Do not be fooled: this latest delay tactic is yet another effort to conceal the Epstein files.' The same day as the Justice Department's announcement, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed to subpoena Maxwell for questions from lawmakers. Three days later, as he readied to leave on a trip to Scotland, Trump responded to reporters that he hasn't considered pardoning Maxwell. Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler and Holly Baltz of The Palm Beach Post
USA Today
10 hours ago
- USA Today
ICE deported teenagers and children in immigration raids. Here are their stories.
Several students who attended K-12 schools in the United States last year won't return this fall after ICE deported them to other countries. An empty seat. Martir Garcia Lara's fourth-grade teacher and classmates went on with the school day in Torrance, California without him on May 29. About 20 miles north of his fourth grade classroom, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and detained the boy and his father at their scheduled immigration hearing in Downtown Los Angeles. The federal immigration enforcement agency, which under President Donald Trump has more aggressively deported undocumented immigrants, separated the young boy and his father for a time and took them to an immigration detention facility in Texas. Garcia Lara and his father were reunited and deported to Honduras this summer. Garcia Lara is one of at least five young children and teens who have been rounded up by ICE and deported from the United States with their parents since the start of Trump's second presidential term. Many won't return to their school campuses in the fall. "Martir's absence rippled beyond the school walls, touching the hearts of neighbors and strangers alike, who united in a shared hope for his safe return," Sara Myers, a spokesperson for the Torrance Unified School District, told USA TODAY. Trisha McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said his father Martir Garcia-Banegas, 50, illegally entered the United States in 2021 with his son from the Central American country and an immigration judge ordered them to "removed to Honduras" in Sept. 2022. "They exhausted due process and had no legal remedies left to pursue," McLaughlin wrote USA TODAY in an email. The young boy is now in Honduras without his teacher, classmates and a brother who lives in Torrance. "I was scared to come here," Lara told a reporter at the California-based news station ABC7 in Spanish. "I want to see my friends again. All of my friends are there. I miss all my friends very much." Although no reported ICE deportations have taken place on school grounds, school administrators, teachers and students told USA TODAY that fear lingers for many immigrant students in anticipation of the new school year. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in the United States. A Reuters analysis of ICE and White House data shows the Trump administration has doubled the daily arrest rates compared to the last decade. Trump recently signed the House and Senate backed "One Big Beautiful Bill," which increases ICE funding by $75 billion to use to enforce immigration policy and arrest, detain and deport immigrants in the United States. Although Trump has said he wants to remove immigrants from the country who entered illegally and committed violent crimes, many people without criminal records have also been arrested and deported, including school students who have been picked up along with or in lieu of their parents. Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, says the Trump administration's immigration agencies are not targeting children in their raids. She called an insinuation that they are "a fake narrative when the truth tells a much different story." "In many of these examples, the children's parents were illegally present in the country – some posing a risk to the communities they were illegally present in – and when they were going to be removed they chose to take their children with them," Jackson said. "If you have a final deportation order, as many of these illegal immigrant parents did, you have no right to stay in the United States and should immediately self-deport.' Parents can choose to leave their kids behind if they are arrested, detained and deported from the United States, she said. Some advocates for immigrants in the United States dispute that claim. National Immigration Project executive director Sirine Shebaya said she's aware of undocumented immigrant parents were not given the choice to leave their kids behind or opportunity to make arrangement for them to stay in the United States. In several cases, ICE targeted parents when they attended routine immigration appointments, while traffic stops led to deportations of two high school students. School principals, teachers and classmates say their absence is sharply felt and other students are afraid they could be next. From Los Angeles to Massachusetts: arrested, detained and deported The coastal community of Torrance is in uproar over Garcia Lara's deportation. After hearing about the arrest of him and his father, Jasmin King, president of the PTA for Torrance Elementary School, asked parents in the group for advice on how to help them. "One of our students, Martir Garcia Lara, 4th grade, who has been one of our students since 1st grade has recently been held captive in an ICE facility located in Houston Texas," King wrote in a memo to school parents obtained by KTLA in late May. "We are trying to help Martir and his family." School district officials also received inquiries from the community about what people could do to assist Garcia Lara and his family, said Myers, the district spokesperson. In the end, they couldn't do much to help the child stay in the United States. Elementary, middle and high school campuses have historically been safe settings for immigrant students and their families, but students may be picked up by ICE when they are off-campus. 'One of our classmates was deported' About 10 miles north of the White House, Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, also lost a high school junior near the end of the school year. ICE deported the student to Guatemala, according to the student organization Montgomery Blair Students For Asylum and Immigration Reform. Liliana López, a spokesperson for the district, said ICE has not appeared on the district's campuses. 'Last week, one of our classmates was deported,' the group wrote on social media. 'We're heartbroken, we're angry, and we're not staying silent.' Kyara Romero Lira, 17, who attends Montgomery Blair, said she found out about the student's deportation through a friend who was close to the girl. She said she could not name the student because the student and her family requested privacy. ICE did not respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY for more information about the student or why she was deported. School officials said they could not confirm the student's status or name due to privacy regulations. The teen's arrest elicited an emotional student walkout on the school campus in June. Romero Lira and Senaya Asfaw, the leaders of a student group on campus called Students For Asylum and Immigration Reform organized the walkout. They are both daughters of immigrants. Other high schoolers joined them on campus on June 12 in protest of the student's deportation. The teens described the protest as "extremely successful." Asfaw said there is an increased presence of ICE in their community, which has a large immigrant population. "There's been unrest, confusion and fear since the new administration came in," Asfaw told USA TODAY. "There's been a lot more ICE sightings in general, not on campus, but in the community." Romero Lira said the student's deportation "brought something that felt so far away to our doorstep." She feels "extremely scared" even though she's in a community that's historically friendly to immigrants, she said. Asfaw agreed and reiterated the surprise about the student's deportation hitting so close to home. "Our school does so much to try to help the immigrant students and parents and families. You can see that within the hallways of Blair," Asfaw said. "There are all kids of immigrants, a lot of Latino immigrants and other immigrants from all over the world." Detroit teacher will 'miss him in my classroom next year' Immigration officials arrested Detroit teen and high school senior Maykol Bogoya-Duarte on May 20 when he was driving to a school field trip. Authorities say he was tailgating a car in front of him, which turned out to be an unmarked police car. Local police officers found out he didn't have a driver's license and arrested the teen during the traffic stop, said his attorney, Ruby Robinson with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. A copy of the police report in the case, provided to USA TODAY by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, showed that police officers called local border patrol agents on the scene to "provide interpretation" between officers and Bogoya-Duarte. Robinson said immigration agents learned then that Bogoya-Duarte was undocumented and had a deportation order and arrested him. He was 18 at the time of the arrest. He was also just 3.5 credits away from graduating high school. Authorities sent him to an immigration processing center in Louisiana and deported him to Colombia in June after he lost his legal appeal to stay in the country to earn his high school diploma. Bogoya-Duarte had lived in the United States since 2022 and was denied asylum to stay in the country in 2024, Robinson said. Bogoya-Duarte was planning to return to Colombia with his mother after he graduated from high school. He was in the process of obtaining a new passport. Jackson, from the White House, said Bogoya-Duarte had "previously ignored a judge's removal order and lost his appeal." "His asylum request was adjudicated prior to removal," she said. Dozens of community members spoke at a recent Detroit Public Schools meeting condemning Bogoya-Duarte's arrest, Chalkbeat Detroit reported. "On the day the rest of his classmates were starting summer and graduating, he was in a detention center," Robinson said. He described the teen as conscientious, focused on school, and said his grades had been improving since he entered the United States. "It was an opportunity cut short for him," he said. Robinson said Bogoya-Duarte was unable to apply for or receive a drivers license because of state restrictions that don't allow undocumented immigrants to obtain them. Angel Garcia, principal of Western International High School where Bogoya-Duarte attended school, called it "a really scary time" for his community. "I feel terrible for Maykol's family, but also for our other families who witnessed what happened from afar," Garcia said. Bogoya-Duarte's deportation and the Trump administration's heavy hand on immigration enforcement caused "quite a dip" in attendance last school year, he said. Kristen Schoettle, Bogoya-Duarte's teacher from Western International High School, told Chalkbeat Detroit that she's "devastated" and will "miss him in my classroom next year." 'This kid, my bright student, was passed along to prisons for a month, scared and facing awful conditions I'm sure, for the crime of what — fleeing his country as a minor in search of a better life?" said Schoettle to Chalkbeat Detroit. "And the US government decided his time was better spent in prison than finishing out the school year." 'The speed, brutality, and clandestine manner in which these children were deported is beyond unconscionable' Younger school children who attended Louisiana schools have also been caught in the crosshairs. ICE deported a 7-year-old girl in New Orleans to Honduras with her mother and her 4-year-old brother who has cancer in late April, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The children are both United States citizens and lived their entires lives in the country, said Sirine Shebaya from the National Immigration Project, which is representing the family. The family was attending a routine immigration appointment when they were arrested and the mother did not have a criminal history, she said. The United States Department of Homeland Security said the kids' mother "entered the country illegally and was released into the interior in 2013." "She was given a final order of deportation in 2015," reads an April 29 post from the agency on X. "In February of 2025, she was arrested by Kenner Police Department in Louisiana for speeding, driving without insurance, and driving without a license," the agency wrote. "When she was taken into ICE custody in April 2025, she chose to bring both children, who are American citizens, with her to Honduras and presented a valid United States passport for each child." Shebaya said she was not given the option to leave her kids behind or make arrangements for them to stay and they were deported within 24 hours. "ICE is supposed to give families time to figure out what options there are for care for their children, but in any cases families are taken into routine check ins, taken into hotel rooms for an extremely brief time and they're told deported tomorrow," Shebaya said. ICE also deported another New Orleans family, including the mother of an 11-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, who is an American citizen, after they attended a routine immigration appointment in April. They were given 72 hours before they were deported, Shebaya said. The mother and the daughter entered the United States together during the first Trump administration and were undocumented immigrants. The young girl was attending school in the United States for about four years, Shebaya said. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security said on X that the mother "illegally entered the U.S. three times." "Her and her daughter were given final orders of removal in March of 2020," they wrote."When she was taken into ICE custody in April 2025, she chose to bring her daughter, an American citizen, with her to Honduras." Shebaya said the mother was told to bring her children and their passports to her immigration appointment. ICE is "actively instructing people to bring kids in some situations," she said. "If you're a child going to school or family with mixed status within it, there's a shock factor for families and for schoolmates going to school with them and not seeing them showing up," she said. "If anything, it creates terror day in and day out. Kids are being affected by it." DHS officials said in a statement about the New Orleans cases that the agency is "not deporting American children" and "takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected." "Parents, who are here illegally, can take control of their departure," they wrote. Immigration attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Project and other advocates have condemned both New Orleans families' deportation and Trump's immigration crackdown, particularly when children are affected. 'Deporting U.S. citizen children is illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral," said Erin Ware, a senior associate at the law firm Ware Immigration, in a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union, about the New Orleans case. "The speed, brutality, and clandestine manner in which these children were deported is beyond unconscionable, and every official responsible for it should be held accountable.' 'I was hoping to graduate with my friends' Nory Sontay Ramos, a 17-year-old honors student at Miguel Contreras High School in Westlake, Los Angeles was preparing for her senior year before she and her mother were arrested by ICE at an immigration appointment. 'ICE took us to a room, and they ended up telling my mom, 'Your case is over, so we have to take you guys with us,'' Sontay Ramos told the news outlet The 19th. The teen and her mother were undocumented. The duo entered the United States as asylum seekers when Sontay Ramos was 6 years old, NBC 4 Los Angeles reported. McLaughlin said Sontay Ramos and her mother "exhausted all of their legal options to remain in the U.S." "On March 12, 2019, an immigration judge ordered their removal," she said. "On August 12, 2022, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed their appeal." Authorities took the teen and her mother to Texas and deported them to Guatemala on July 4. 'I feel really sad because I was hoping to graduate with my friends and be there with them doing track and field,' she told NBC 4. At Miguel Contreras Learning Complex where she attended school, physical education teacher Manuel Guevara told The 19th that she was "happy-go-lucky." 'Nory is going into her senior year, which is another thing that's just killing me," he told the news outlet. "She was going into her senior year with all this momentum.' 'Nobody should be in there' A student who was detained and later released on bond is left with emotional scars after his experience in a Massachusetts detention facility. ICE pulled over and arrested Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, on his drive to volleyball practice at Milford High School in Massachusetts on May 31. The next day, Gomes da Silva's girlfriend and the other seniors at Milford High School graduated under a cloud of angst. Gomes da Silva, an 11th grader, was absent, as were two of the graduating students and the families of many others who feared arrest and deportation if they showed up. "I heard many stories of people who didn't cheer for their children," for fear of being exposed to immigration authorities, Coleen Greco, mother of a volleyball teammate of Gomes da Silva's, told USA TODAY. Federal officials said they were targeting Gomes da Silva's father, who owns the car he was driving, because he is undocumented and has a history of speeding. Gomes da Silva's attorney Robin Nice said his father has no arrests or convictions for speeding. The family moved to the United States from Brazil when Gomes da Silva was 7 years old and overstayed their visa, according to Nice. At the school's graduation ceremony, Milford High School Principal Joshua Otlin referred to the community's lingering "fear and anxiety" after Gomes da Silva's arrest. 'There is wrenching despair and righteous anger, where there should be gratitude and joy," he said. Gomes da Silva was later released from the ICE detention facility after six days in custody. He has applied for asylum in the hopes of avoiding deportation. A new surge of fear for immigrant families with school children Officials at schools with large immigrant populations say many students have been fearful since Trump ramped up immigration enforcement. "There's been very high levels of anxiety in the community about immigration enforcement for many months," said Otlin. Many immigrant families in Los Angeles County, where Sontay Ramos and Garcia Lara lived, avoided graduation ceremonies after Trump sent National Guard Troops to the Southern California city when Angelenos protested ICE arrests there in June. How LA school graduations Became the epicenter of fear for ICE family separations Los Angeles Unified School District has produced 'know your rights' cards with directions on how to respond if approached by immigration agents to students who request them, said Christy Hagen, a spokesperson for the district. Officials there are urging parents and guardians to update their students' emergency contact information and designate a trusted adult as an authorized caregiver in the event they are detained, she said. School officials elsewhere said they are also making plans to aid immigrant students ahead of the new school year. Garcia, the high school principal from Detroit, said the school may increase English language instruction for students who speak it as a second language. He wants to give students "more agency in knowing their rights." "We have to be more up front and honest with students about the dangers that we're currently experiencing in our country, especially for those who are not citizens." he said. While Garcia Lara won't return to nearby Torrance Unified in the fall, Myers, the spokesperson for his old school district, said the school community's concern about the young boy and his father's well-being has "reaffirmed our district's belief in the human spirit." Contributing: Ben Adler, USA TODAY; Max Reinhart, The Detroit News Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@ Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
UPI
12 hours ago
- UPI
On This Day, July 27: Rep. Lewis lies in state in U.S. Capitol
1 of 5 | On July 27, 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. Robespierre, who encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the revolution, was himself guillotined the following day. In 1909, Orville Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin -- a hormone they believed could prevent diabetes -- for the first time. In 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950. File Photo courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum In 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37th president resigned less than two weeks later. In 1986, Greg LeMond, 25, of Sacramento, became the first American to win cycling's most famous contest, the Tour de France. In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 82 people, four of them on the ground. In 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people. In 2012, the Summer Olympics opened in London, with 10,820 athletes representing 204 countries. In 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer. In 2021, Carissa Moore of the United States and Italo Ferreira of Brazil took home the inaugural gold medals in surfing at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. In 2024, Team USA won its first gold medal of the Paris Summer Olympics with a first-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay. Swimmers Jack Alexy, Hunter Armstrong, Caeleb Dressel and Chris Guiliano pushed the relay team to victory. File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI
