Latest news with #Cecot
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Warren County gardeners to donate crops to fight food insecurity
INDIANOLA, Iowa — A new initiative in Warren County is helping fight food insecurity by inviting local gardeners to donate their crops. The Master Gardeners program is part of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Through this program, garden enthusiasts learn more about plants and gardening in the home landscape and get connected to other local gardeners. The Warren County Master Gardeners is just one of the local groups associated with the program. Bethany Cecot is the Master Gardener Coordinator in Warren County. She said one of their missions is to fight food insecurity. Three years ago, they partnered with the Parks and Recreation Department to create a Donation Garden, where they grow crops like tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, onions, eggplant, artichokes, strawberries, rhubarb, apples, peaches, pears, cherries, peas, potatoes, and several herbs. Summer vibes off at Saylorville Lake Marina amid new restaurant construction Over the last three years, all of the food grown in the garden was donated to the Helping Hands of Warren County, a local food pantry in Indianola. However, the Master Gardeners wanted to expand their services and help more people throughout the county. Cecot said that many residents in the southern parts of Warren County are experiencing more food insecurity because of the distance they have to travel to grocery stores. She said some people have to travel up to 20 miles, and as a result, this limits access to food that is nutrient-dense. Therefore, she spearheaded the Plant, Grow, Share a Row project. Gardeners in Warren County can either donate their crop surplus at the end of the growing season or intentionally plant extra fruits and vegetables, and the Master Gardeners will donate this food to pantries and community fridges across the county. Free seeds will also be provided to community members who want to take part but don't have the extra supply. Cecot said this project will help amplify the efforts of the Donation Garden. Cool temps keep some central Iowa pools closed over holiday weekend 'There are seasons where things don't always grow as planned and so this is a way to bring in the community to help make sure that our pantries are stocked with nutritious foods and making that accessible to everyone,' she said. Stacey Cole is a Warren County resident who just moved to the county two years ago. She said she wanted to join this program for the sense of community. 'I retired out of law enforcement, military a couple years ago. And having that group and sense of belonging, I've missed that the last couple of years. And it's nice to have a place to follow to and a group of gardeners is the place that I want to be with,' she said. Residents can learn more about the program through the Warren County Master Gardeners. Their extension is located at 200 West 2nd Avenue in Indianola, or they can reach out through the following email and phone number: xwarren@ / (515)961-6237. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump news at a glance: thinktank finds legal immigrants stripped of protections and sent to El Salvador prison
At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the US legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute. Published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, the report analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found. 'The government calls them all 'illegal aliens.' But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point,' Cato said in its report. The Cato Institute's analysis goes against the Trump administration's claim that only undocumented people were deported to El Salvador. The report says that 21 men were admitted after presenting themselves at a port of entry, 24 were granted parole, four were resettled as refugees, and one entered the US on a tourist visa. The Trump administration deported more than 200 alleged gang members to the Cecot mega-prison in March, controversially invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law meant only to be used in wartime, as justification. Read the full story Donald Trump's administration can end legal protections that have shielded about 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation, the supreme court ruled on Monday. America's highest court granted a request by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court. Read the full story Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have held a rare phone call, which the US leader described as 'excellent', but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, despite pressure from Washington and European allies. Trump described the call as having gone 'very well'. But the Russian leader declined to support the US-proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire, which Washington had framed as the call's primary objective. Putin also suggested his country's maximalist objectives in the war with Ukraine were unchanged. Read the full story The former FBI director James Comey has brushed off criticism about a photo of seashells he posted on social media, saying it is 'crazy' to think the messaged was intended as a threat against Donald Trump. 'I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it, until I heard … that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy,' Comey said in interview on MSNBC. Read the full story The Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was released only weeks ago from federal detention, has crossed the graduation stage to cheers from his fellow graduates. The Palestinian activist was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview. He was detained and ordered to be deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime. Read the full story Donald Trump has signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation that Melania Trump helped usher through Congress. The US president had the first lady sign it, too, despite what sounded like a mild objection on her part. Read the full story The president of CBS News has announced that she is stepping down, citing disagreements with the network's parent company as it confronts a $20bn lawsuit from Donald Trump and a looming merger. Wendy McMahon, who has helmed the company's venerated news division since 2023, said in a memo shared in full on social media that 'it's become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward'. Read the full story Donald Trump lashed out at celebrities who endorsed Kamala Harris in late night and early morning screeds on Monday, saying he would investigate them to see if they were paid for the endorsements – repeating a common refrain on the right about the star-studded list of Harris supporters. Read the full story The US has officially closed its Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem, according to an internal state department memo seen by the Guardian, in effect eliminating the Palestinians' dedicated diplomatic channel to Washington. A federal judge has blocked efforts by the Trump administration and its so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) to dismantle the US Institute of Peace, at least temporarily. The Trump administration has reportedly reached an agreement to pay nearly $5m to the family of the woman who was fatally shot by police while participating in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Catching up? Here's what happened on 18 May 2025.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
At least 50 migrants sent to El Salvador prison entered US legally, report finds
At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute. The report, published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found. 'The government calls them all 'illegal aliens.' But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point,' Cato said in its report. This number aligns with broader trends among Venezuelan migrants, many of whom entered the country either as refugees or through a Biden-era parole program that granted two-year work permits to those with US-based sponsors. 'The proportion isn't what matters the most: the astounding absolute numbers are,' reads the report. 'Dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of their status and imprisoned in El Salvador.' Cato's analysis goes against the Trump administration's justification for sending the men to El Salvador, saying that only undocumented people were deported. The report says that 21 men were admitted after presenting themselves at a port of entry, 24 were granted parole, four were resettled as refugees, and one entered the US on a tourist visa. The Trump administration deported more than 200 alleged gang members to the Cecot mega-prison in March, controversially invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law meant only to be used in wartime, as justification. The Cecot prison is known for its harsh conditions, and lawyers for Venezuelan deportees have alleged that the migrants being held there are victims of physical and emotional 'torture'. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion The deportations have since drawn widespread scrutiny. To date, the Trump administration has not released complete records for the more than 200 Venezuelans transferred to El Salvador. Cato's review includes information for 174 men whose cases have some degree of public documentation. The Trump administration has accused many of the deported Venezuelan men of gang involvement, but in many cases, those claims appear to hinge largely on their tattoos. Many of the tattoos cited as evidence have no connection to gang activity. The markings reflect, in many cases, personal or cultural references. Cato uses the example of Andry José Hernández Romero, a makeup artist, who has crown tattoos on his arms that reference the Three Kings Day celebrations in his Venezuelan hometown. The report comes amid a sprawling crackdown on immigrants in the US. On Monday, the supreme court ruled that the Trump administration could proceed with efforts to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for Venezuelans. Ending TPS, which protects foreign citizens who cannot return home because of war, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances, could open up approximately 350,000 people for potential deportation. Agencies contributed reporting
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The desperate search for a father disappeared by Trump to El Salvador: ‘We don't know anything'
The last time Joregelis Barrios heard from her brother Jerce, the call had lasted just one minute. Immigration officials had moved Jerce from the detention center in southern California where he had been for six months to another one in Texas. He sounded worried, as if he had been crying. He told his sister he might be transferred somewhere else soon. No one has heard from him since. Within hours of that call, Jerce was forced on a plane to El Salvador and booked into the country's most notorious prison: the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot). He was one of more than 260 men that Donald Trump's administration had accused of terrorism and gang membership. His sister thought she recognized him in the videos shared by the Salvadorian government, among the crowd of deportees with shaved heads and white prison uniforms, being frogmarched to their cells by guards in ski masks. Then CBS News published a leaked list of the deportees' names, confirming her worst worries. Related: 'They disappear them': families of the detained see grim echo of Latin American dictatorships in Trump's US 'It was a shock,' said Joregelis. 'Jerce has always avoided trouble.' Jerce, a 36-year-old professional soccer player and father of two, had come to the US last year to seek asylum, after fleeing political violence and repression in Venezuela. An immigration hearing to review his case was scheduled for 17 April, just weeks after he was abruptly exiled to El Salvador. 'He was so optimistic, up till the last day we spoke,' said Mariyin Araujo, Jerce's ex-partner and the co-parent of his two daughters, Isabella and six-year-old Carla. 'He believed the laws there in the US were the best, that it would all work out soon,' she said. 'How far did that get him?' *** Barrios was flown to Cecot on 15 March. For the past two months, his family has been obsessively scanning news updates and social media posts for any sign that he is still alive and healthy. They have been closely monitoring the court cases challenging Trump's invocation of the wartime powers of the Alien Enemies Act against the Venezuela-based gang known as Tren de Aragua, to exile immigrants – most of whom have no criminal history – to one of the most notorious prisons in the world. And they have been wondering what, if anything, they can do for Jerce. In Machiques, a small town near Venezuela's border with Colombia, locals have painted a mural in Jerce's honor. His old soccer club, Perijaneros FC, started a campaign demanding his release – and children from the local soccer school held a prayer circle for him. 'We have created TikToks about him, we have organized protests, we held vigils,' said Araujo. 'We have looked for so many ways to be his voice at this moment, when he is unable to speak,' she said. But as the weeks pass, she said, she is increasingly unsure what more she can do. The Trump administration has doubled down on its right to send immigrants to Cecot, despite a federal judge's order barring it from doing so. To justify these extraordinary deportations, both Trump and El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, have publicly insisted that the men sent to Cecot are the worst of the worst gang members. To mark Trump's first 100 days in office, his Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a list of 'Noteworthy individuals deported or prevented from entering the US' – and characterized Jerce as 'a member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang' who 'has tattoos that are consistent with those indicating membership' in the gang. Jerce's family and lawyer say the only evidence DHS has shared so far is that he has a tattoo on his arm of a soccer ball with a crown on top – a tribute to his favorite soccer team, Real Madrid. His other tattoos include the names of his parents, siblings and daughters. Related: 'I just ask God that he's OK': family of Venezuelan musician sent to El Salvador prison agonizes over his fate 'My brother is not a criminal,' Joregelis said. 'They took him away without any proof. They took him because he's Venezuelan, because he had tattoos, and because he is Black.' She's still haunted by the strange sense of finality in his last call. He had asked after his daughters, and whether his Isabella had been eating well. 'I told him she had just had some plátano,' Jorgelis said. 'And then he said to me: 'I love you.' He said to tell our mom to take care.' *** Araujo has struggled to explain to her daughters why their father hasn't been calling them regularly. She lives in Mexico City with Carla, her six-year-old. Isabella, three, is in Venezuela with Jorgelis. Carla, especially, has started asking a lot of questions. 'Recently, she said to me: 'Mom, Dad hasn't called me, Mom. Could it be that he no longer loves me?'' Araujo said. 'So I had to tell her a little bit about what had happened.' Now Carla cries constantly, Araujo said. She misses her father, she misses his scrambled eggs, she misses watching him play soccer. She keeps asking if he is being treated well in detention, if he is eating well. 'It's too difficult,' Araujo said. 'From a young age, kids learn that if you do something bad, you go to jail. And now she keeps asking how come her dad is in jail, he's not a bad person. And I don't know how to explain. I don't know how to tell her there is no logical explanation.' Jerce had been in detention of some sort ever since he set foot inside the US. Last year, he had used the now defunct CBP One app to request an appointment with immigration officials at the border. After more than four months of waiting in Mexico, agents determined that he had a credible case for asylum – but decided to detain him in a maximum-security detention center in San Ysidro, California, while he awaited his hearing. Related: As deportations ramp up, immigrants increasingly fear Ice check-ins: 'All bets are off' 'Jerce didn't tell us much about what it was like there, because he didn't want us to worry,' said Jorgelis. 'The only thing he did say was, why did he have to be Black? I believe he faced a lot of racism there.' When he first arrived at the border, immigration officials had alleged he might be a gang member based on his tattoos and on social media posts in which he was making the hand gesture commonly used to signify 'I love you' in sign language, or 'rock and roll'. His lawyer, Linette Tobin, submitted evidence proving that he had no criminal record in Venezuela, and that his hand gesture was benign. She also obtained a declaration from his tattoo artists affirming that his ink was a tribute to the Spanish soccer team and not to a gang. Officials agreed to move him out of maximum security shortly thereafter, in the fall of last year. 'I thought that was a tacit admission, an acknowledgement that he's not a gang member,' Tobin said. When officials moved him to a detention center in Texas, Tobin worried that transfer would complicate his asylum proceedings. Since she is based in California, she wasn't sure whether she'd be able to continue to represent him in Texas. Jerce had been worried when Tobin last spoke to him on the phone, in March, but she had reassured him that he still had a strong case for asylum. Now, the US government has petitioned to dismiss Jerce's asylum case, she said, 'on the basis that – would you believe it – he's not here in the US'. 'I mean, he'd love to be here if he could!' she said. Related: Denied, detained, deported: the faces of Trump's immigration crackdown Other than ensuring that his case remains open, Tobin said she's not sure what more she can do for her client. After the ACLU sued Donald Trump over his unilateral use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove alleged members from the US without legal process, the supreme court ruled that detainees subject to deportation must be given an opportunity to challenge their removals. But the highest court's ruling leaves uncertain what people like Jerce, who are already stuck in Salvadorian prison, are supposed to do now. As that case moves forward, Tobin hopes the ACLU will be able to successfully challenge all the deportations. But in a separate case over the expulsion of Kilmar Ábrego García, whom the administration admitted was sent to Cecot in error, the supreme court asked the administration to facilitate Ábrego García's return to the US – and the administration said it couldn't, and wouldn't. In his last calls with his family, Jerce told them he'd be out of detention soon – that it would all be better soon. Once he was granted asylum, he said, he would try to join a soccer league in the US and start earning some money. He had promised Carla he'd buy her a TV soon. Now, Araujo said: 'I don't even know if he is alive. We don't know anything. The last thing we saw was a video of them, and after that video many speculations, but nothing is certain.'
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Family of man sent to El Salvador prison looks for any signs he's still alive: ‘We don't know anything'
The last time Joregelis Barrios heard from her brother Jerce, the call had lasted just one minute. Immigration officials had moved Jerce from the detention center in southern California where he had been for six months to another one in Texas. He sounded worried, as if he had been crying. He told his sister he might be transferred somewhere else soon. No one has heard from him since. Within hours of that call, Jerce was forced on a plane to El Salvador and booked into the country's most notorious prison: the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot). He was one of more than 260 men that Donald Trump's administration had accused of terrorism and gang membership. His sister thought she recognized him in the videos shared by the Salvadorian government, among the crowd of deportees with shaved heads and white prison uniforms, being frogmarched to their cells by guards in ski masks. Then CBS News published a leaked list of the deportees' names, confirming her worst worries. 'It was a shock,' said Joregelis. 'Jerce has always avoided trouble.' Jerce, a 36-year-old professional soccer player and father of two, had come to the US last year to seek asylum, after fleeing political violence and repression in Venezuela. An immigration hearing to review his case was scheduled for 17 April, just weeks after he was abruptly exiled to El Salvador. 'He was so optimistic, up till the last day we spoke,' said Mariyin Araujo, Jerce's ex-partner and the co-parent of his two daughters, Isabella and six-year-old Carla. 'He believed the laws there in the US were the best, that it would all work out soon,' she said. 'How far did that get him?' Barrios was flown to Cecot on 15 March. For the past two months, his family has been obsessively scanning news updates and social media posts for any sign that he is still alive and healthy. They have been closely monitoring the court cases challenging Trump's invocation of the wartime powers of the Alien Enemies Act against the Venezuela-based gang known as Tren de Aragua, to exile immigrants – most of whom have no criminal history – to one of the most notorious prisons in the world. And they have been wondering what, if anything, they can do for Jerce. In Machiques, a small town near Venezuela's border with Colombia, locals have painted a mural in Jerce's honor. His old soccer club, Perijaneros FC, started a campaign demanding his release – and children from the local soccer school held a prayer circle for him. 'We have created TikToks about him, we have organized protests, we held vigils,' said Araujo. 'We have looked for so many ways to be his voice at this moment, when he is unable to speak,' she said. But as the weeks pass, she said, she is increasingly unsure what more she can do. The Trump administration has doubled down on its right to send immigrants to Cecot, despite a federal judge's order barring it from doing so. To justify these extraordinary deportations, both Trump and El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, have publicly insisted that the men sent to Cecot are the worst of the worst gang members. To mark Trump's first 100 days in office, his Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a list of 'Noteworthy individuals deported or prevented from entering the US' – and characterized Jerce as 'a member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang' who 'has tattoos that are consistent with those indicating membership' in the gang. Jerce's family and lawyer say the only evidence DHS has shared so far is that he has a tattoo on his arm of a soccer ball with a crown on top – a tribute to his favorite soccer team, Real Madrid. His other tattoos include the names of his parents, siblings and daughters. 'My brother is not a criminal,' Joregelis said. 'They took him away without any proof. They took him because he's Venezuelan, because he had tattoos, and because he is Black.' She's still haunted by the strange sense of finality in his last call. He had asked after his daughters, and whether his Isabella had been eating well. 'I told him she had just had some plátano,' Jorgelis said. 'And then he said to me: 'I love you.' He said to tell our mom to take care.' Araujo has struggled to explain to her daughters why their father hasn't been calling them regularly. She lives in Mexico City with Carla, her six-year-old. Isabella, three, is in Venezuela with Jorgelis. Carla, especially, has started asking a lot of questions. 'Recently, she said to me: 'Mom, Dad hasn't called me, Mom. Could it be that he no longer loves me?'' Araujo said. 'So I had to tell her a little bit about what had happened.' Now Carla cries constantly, Araujo said. She misses her father, she misses his scrambled eggs, she misses watching him play soccer. She keeps asking if he is being treated well in detention, if he is eating well. 'It's too difficult,' Araujo said. 'From a young age, kids learn that if you do something bad, you go to jail. And now she keeps asking how come her dad is in jail, he's not a bad person. And I don't know how to explain. I don't know how to tell her there is no logical explanation.' Jerce had been in detention of some sort ever since he set foot inside the US. Last year, he had used the now defunct CBP One app to request an appointment with immigration officials at the border. After more than four months of waiting in Mexico, agents determined that he had a credible case for asylum – but decided to detain him in a maximum-security detention center in San Ysidro, California, while he awaited his hearing. 'Jerce didn't tell us much about what it was like there, because he didn't want us to worry,' said Jorgelis. 'The only thing he did say was, why did he have to be Black? I believe he faced a lot of racism there.' When he first arrived at the border, immigration officials had alleged he might be a gang member based on his tattoos and on social media posts in which he was making the hand gesture commonly used to signify 'I love you' in sign language, or 'rock and roll'. His lawyer, Linette Tobin, submitted evidence proving that he had no criminal record in Venezuela, and that his hand gesture was benign. She also obtained a declaration from his tattoo artists affirming that his ink was a tribute to the Spanish soccer team and not to a gang. Officials agreed to move him out of maximum security shortly thereafter, in the fall of last year. 'I thought that was a tacit admission, an acknowledgement that he's not a gang member,' Tobin said. When officials moved him to a detention center in Texas, Tobin worried that transfer would complicate his asylum proceedings. Since she is based in California, she wasn't sure whether she'd be able to continue to represent him in Texas. Jerce had been worried when Tobin last spoke to him on the phone, in March, but she had reassured him that he still had a strong case for asylum. Now, the US government has petitioned to dismiss Jerce's asylum case, she said, 'on the basis that – would you believe it – he's not here in the US'. 'I mean, he'd love to be here if he could!' she said. Other than ensuring that his case remains open, Tobin said she's not sure what more she can do for her client. After the ACLU sued Donald Trump over his unilateral use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove alleged members from the US without legal process, the supreme court ruled that detainees subject to deportation must be given an opportunity to challenge their removals. But the highest court's ruling leaves uncertain what people like Jerce, who are already stuck in Salvadorian prison, are supposed to do now. As that case moves forward, Tobin hopes the ACLU will be able to successfully challenge all the deportations. But in a separate case over the expulsion of Kilmar Ábrego García, whom the administration admitted was sent to Cecot in error, the supreme court asked the administration to facilitate Ábrego García's return to the US – and the administration said it couldn't, and wouldn't. In his last calls with his family, Jerce told them he'd be out of detention soon – that it would all be better soon. Once he was granted asylum, he said, he would try to join a soccer league in the US and start earning some money. He had promised Carla he'd buy her a TV soon. Now, Araujo said: 'I don't even know if he is alive. We don't know anything. The last thing we saw was a video of them, and after that video many speculations, but nothing is certain.'
