Latest news with #CarolDay
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri mom whose detention rocked a small MAGA town has been released
Residents of Kennett, Missouri, are celebrating the release of Ming Li Hui, who goes by the name of Carol, after the mother of three was released from immigration custody on Wednesday following more than a month in jail. 'They released me,' Hui said in a voicemail left for her lawyer, which was relayed to The New York Times. According to the Times, Hui's attorney, Raymond Bolourtchi, said the 45-year-old 'had been released under a federal immigration program that offers a 'temporary safe haven' to immigrants from Hong Kong and a handful of other countries who are concerned about returning there.' Hui arrived in the U.S. from Hong Kong two decades ago and was detained on April 30 after she was summoned to a federal immigration office in St. Louis without explanation. Once there, authorities informed her she was being detained for overstaying her tourist visa and would soon be deported. The residents of Kennett quickly banded together to rally for Hui's release. The staff at John's Waffle and Pancake House, the diner where Hui had worked before her detention, organized an event last month called 'Carol Day,' raising nearly $20,000 and collecting hundreds of signatures for a petition to 'bring Carol home.' For the residents of Kennett, which is part of a rural county that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November, Hui's arrest has forced them to confront the reality of the president's mass deportation effort. 'I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,' one resident told the Times. 'But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves … This is Carol.' Bolourtchi said Hui's release 'never would have happened without her community standing behind her.' On Wednesday, one of Hui's neighbors made the four-hour journey to the jail where she was being held to drive her home. In Kennett, Hui's family and dozens of residents gathered at the restaurant to celebrate her return. Liridona Ramadani, whose family runs the diner, described Hui's homecoming in a post on Facebook. 'One moment we'll never forget: when her kids ran into her arms for the first time in over a month. There wasn't a dry eye in sight,' Ramadani wrote. 'Many of us stood there with tears streaming down our faces, overwhelmed by the pure love in that hug. It was one of those moments that reminds you what truly matters … Welcome home, Carol. We've missed you so much.' Hui is scheduled to check in with immigration authorities again on June 25. While Hui's release is temporary, her lawyer said he was hopeful she can remain in the U.S. 'By no means are we in the clear,' Bolourtchi told the Times. 'But at this point I'm optimistic. It's an immediate sigh of relief.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Jen Psaki: For many Americans, Trump's mass deportation efforts are starting to hit close to home
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 29 episode of 'The Briefing with Jen Psaki.' On Thursday night, the United Federation of Teachers joined state and local officials at the Tweed Courthouse in lower Manhattan to protest for the release of Dylan Lopez Contreras, a Bronx high schooler. Contreras is an asylum-seeking migrant from Venezuela. He goes to a school called Ellis Prep in the Bronx and works as a delivery driver to help support his family. Last week, he became the first known New York City public school student to be arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Donald Trump's second term began. All week, we have seen protest after protest for his release. The people of New York are clearly outraged, and they're not the only ones. Kennett, Missouri, may be about as different from New York City as a place can be. While we don't have election results for the city itself, it is the largest city in Dunklin County, which voted for Trump last year by a margin of more than 4 to 1. You would think that if anywhere in the country would support Trump's immigration policies, it would be a place like Kennett. But when Carol Hui, a long-time resident of Kennett and mother of three who works as a waitress at the local diner and is an active member of the local church, got arrested by ICE earlier this month, the residents were shocked. 'I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,' one resident told The New York Times. 'But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves … This is Carol.' The diner that Hui worked at, John's Waffle and Pancake House, is normally closed Tuesdays. But last Tuesday it stayed open. They called it 'Carol Day.' The staff and their families wore shirts that read 'Bring Carol Home.' All of the proceeds from every meal went to a fundraiser for her. They filled every seat and raised nearly $8,000 that way. But more people wanted to help than the diner had seats, so they put out a donation box for people who couldn't get in, and they raised nearly another $12,000 that way. On every table, in between the jelly packets and the ketchup, was a petition to bring Hui home — hundreds of locals have signed it. The Trump administration is reportedly aiming to deport a million people this year. Big numbers like that are abstract and hard to wrap your head around. But when someone from your own city, your own town, becomes one of those 1 million people, it becomes much more real. Maurilio Ambrocio is a pastor at a local church in a town just south of Tampa, Florida. Just a few weeks ago, Ambrocio was arrested by ICE and is now slated for deportation. Speaking to NPR, one of Ambrocio's neighbors said he voted for Trump, but when he heard about what happened to the pastor, he was beside himself. The neighbor said he was hoping Trump would target people 'without papers' or 'with criminal records.' But he never expected someone like Ambrocio to be taken away. 'You're gonna take, you know, a community leader, a pastor, a hardworking man,' the neighbor said. 'What, did you need a number that day?' On Wednesday, during an appearance on Fox News, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller answered that question. 'Under President Trump's leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day,' Miller said. 'And President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day.' To put that quota system in perspective, in the first 100 days of Trump's new term, ICE averaged 665 arrests a day. That means this quota system is pushing ICE agents to arrest 4.5 times as many people per day than their already unbelievable pace. On Wednesday, Axios reported that when Miller announced this quota internally, people at the Department of Homeland Security left the meeting 'feeling their jobs could be in jeopardy if the new targets aren't reached.' Beyond how much these arrests have upset their communities, another thread links the arrests of Contreras, Hui and Ambrocio: Contreras was arrested at a courthouse after he showed up for a routine immigration hearing. Ambrocio, who has done a check-in with immigration agents once a year for the past 10 years without incident, was arrested at this year's visit. Hui got a sudden call late last month asking her to drive three hours to ICE offices in St. Louis. It felt suspicious, but as she put it to the Times, 'I didn't want to run ... I just wanted to do the right thing.' She was arrested and put in jail while she awaits deportation. These stories are, unfortunately, the new normal. All across the country, immigrants are showing up to routine court hearings and check-ins, doing their best to follow the law to become citizens legally, only to be arrested, jailed and slated for deportation. Trump claims his immigration agents are only going after the worst of the worst, hardened criminals. But to get the kind of deportation numbers Trump is aiming for, ICE appears to be arresting anyone it can. Earlier this week, The Los Angeles Times reported about a 4-year-old girl in California with a life-threatening medical condition who, along with her family, was ordered to leave the country despite her doctor's warning that if treatment is interrupted, she would die in a matter of days. On Thursday, The Washington Post reported on a 2-year-old American citizen who was deported to Brazil alongside her undocumented parents. However, since the girl is not a citizen of Brazil, she has become 'all but stateless.' Earlier this month, the Supreme Court stripped 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants of their protected status, opening them up to deportation. And Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States will 'aggressively' revoke student visas from Chinese students. There are roughly 275,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S. right now. What are the odds that one of those Venezuelan immigrants or one of those Chinese students lives in your city or your town? How soon until we all know a Dylan Lopez Contrera or a Carol Hui or a Pastor Maurilio Ambrocio from our own lives? This article was originally published on
Global News
27-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
City of Richmond official's internal memo on gift card scandal raises eyebrows
As a forensic audit into a gift card scandal at the City of Richmond examines the past decade, and the RCMP say their own investigation is 'active and ongoing,' the city's chief administrative officer is attempting damage control. Some believe it goes too far. The city has confirmed that $295,000 worth of gift cards it bought in 2022, 2023 and 2024 are unaccounted for. 2:14 Richmond to audit decade of gift cards The scandal was exposed after Global News interviewed whistleblowers and examined nearly 500 pages of documents obtained under freedom of information laws. Story continues below advertisement Despite ongoing investigations, CAO Serena Lusk has emailed staff claiming 'this matter appears at this time to be an isolated incident.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'I think meddling in this is just muddying the waters, and that's not good for anybody,' Richmond City Councillor Carol Day told Global News. 'Better off to just everybody keep your opinions to yourself, let the police ask their questions, let the auditors ask their questions and let's see what comes of it.' 2:06 RCMP investigating Richmond City gift card program Lusk also told staff in her email, 'We all have a responsibility to identify and bring forward serious concerns about anything you see or hear that occurs in the workplace.' Of note, the one person who has been fired worked in CAO Serena Lusk's office. The fired employee sent numerous questionable emails, which were contained in the FOI response. Story continues below advertisement Among them, 'We need to order more. We need 75 keg asap. $50 value, bonuses on top. We also need 50 white spot asap $50 value, bonuses on top.' Another email stated, 'I know we just ordered but I think we need a different denomination of WS cards. Can you order 60x $100 cards excluding bonuses. Optically, I think it looks better if each restaurant card is in the same amount.' Former Vancouver city councillor George Affleck also weighed in on the internal email. 'I thought it was too much information. It was too transparent in an ironic way because they're going through a process right now.' In an emailed response to questions from Global News, Richmond CAO Serena Lusk said, 'We are not presupposing an outcome.' 'It is important that people have all the facts when known, and I will endeavour to make myself available when it is appropriate to do so,' she added. She declined an interview.
