Latest news with #KennedyInternationalAirport
New York Times
23-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Now Boarding at Gate 4: A Cardinal en Route to a Conclave
The police lined the departures curb, eyes peeled for the cardinal arriving any moment at Terminal 1 at Kennedy International Airport. It was 6:32 p.m. on Tuesday, about 39 hours after the death of Pope Francis had been announced. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York was booked on AZ611, the 9:10 p.m. ITA Airways nonstop flight to Fiumicino Airport in Rome, departing Gate 4. 'How's my buddy!' he said, smiling as he stepped out of a Toyota Sienna's passenger seat, greeting the closest police officer. Aides juggled the bags, unloading them from the trunk. Of the 10 American cardinals who are part of the body that will elect the next pope, Cardinal Dolan was among the first to make his way to Rome. In Washington, Cardinals Robert W. McElroy and Wilton Gregory would be leaving soon, as would Cardinal Blase Cupich in Chicago. Passengers glanced at the hubbub surrounding the man in the black suit, Roman collar and a large metal cross as he was ushered to a special check-in counter inside. For his regular trips to Rome, Cardinal Dolan doesn't check any bags. But this time, he expected to be there for several weeks — through the funeral, conclave and installation of the next pope. He fiddled with a Vatican tag on the handle of a suitcase. 'I didn't realize this!' he said. 'This is from the conclave in 2013! I never removed it.' That was his first conclave, when cardinals surprised the world and elected then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as pope — the first Latin American, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere. That's the thing about conclaves: Dozens of men arrive as cardinals. One leaves as pope. 'I hope I get a new one,' Cardinal Dolan said about the tag, as he took individual photos with gate agents. He looked around for his phone. At that moment, his driver rushed into the terminal, holding it out. 'He knows me,' Cardinal Dolan said. 'Did you bring the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?' Coincidentally, Cardinal Dolan's flight was booked three months ago. He was leading a pilgrimage for 200 participants, all going to Rome for the Jubilee, with events planned to start on Wednesday. He wondered aloud what was still on the schedule. The private tour of the Sistine Chapel? All but surely canceled, as the room was being set up for the conclave. The visit to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four main basilicas? Tricky. That's where Pope Francis chose to be buried. 'I hope at least we go through the door,' he said. Escorts had his entourage cut to the front of the Transportation Security Administration's security line. Just before the screening, he passed a baby in a stroller, and reached down to pat it on the cheek and offer a blessing. The baby burst into tears. Off came the metal cross, joining his little protein packets in the T.S.A. bin. Once past the checkpoint, he carefully put it back around his neck. He was quickly ushered to the Lufthansa lounge, where he sized up the buffet tables. 'I don't like to drink a lot of beer before flying,' he said. 'I don't like to eat on the plane.' If all stayed on time, he would arrive in Rome in time for a shower and then the afternoon's General Congregation assembly, where the cardinals were preparing to choose the conclave's start date. This was not how he planned to spend the week after Easter. 'Easter Monday … you look forward to Easter Monday because it's sort of a day off,' he said, taking a seat in front of a window overlooking his gate. But the call from an aide that the Pope had died came at 3:45 a.m., he said. In recent months, he'd received a few personal notes from Pope Francis, replying to the letters he'd sent about the pontiff's health. But the last time he personally spoke with Pope Francis was at a church synod in October 2023. 'I was very moved — he asked how the Jewish community in New York was after the attacks of Oct. 7,' he said. 'We only chatted about 10 minutes or so. He asked me to convey his love and solidarity with them.' Vice President JD Vance's Easter visit with Pope Francis was a surprise, he said. 'I'm wondering myself how it came about, because presently there is no ambassador to the Holy See,' he said. Brian Burch, President Trump's nominee, is waiting for the Senate to vote on his confirmation. Announcements for departing flights blared through the lounge. 'I am very eager to be close to my brother cardinals,' he said. 'Because even though I would know of them all, I would only know maybe a third of them.' The Vatican's ritual proceedings — 'the antipasto before the conclave,' he called them — are helpful. In the general congregation meetings, cardinals can each speak for eight to 10 minutes, sharing what is on their hearts and minds. He said he had not yet thought much about what he might want to say when it was his turn. His first priority, he said, was getting to know his fellow cardinals. A woman hovered nearby. 'How are you?' he said, as she leaned closer to ask for a blessing. 'Where are you going?' When she said she was headed to Portugal, he asked if she was going to Fatima, the pilgrimage site remembering Marian apparitions. She wished she were. 'I wish you were, too — you could remember me,' he said. 'Pray for me.' Years after the conclave that elected Francis, reports emerged that Cardinal Dolan had received two votes. Asked about his prospects this time, he looked speechless for the first time that afternoon. 'Oh, I'm not betting the lunch money on it, so I hope nobody else does,' he said. 'I got a better chance at batting cleanup for the Yankees than I do being pope.' It was time to board. Asked if he'd seen the movie 'Conclave,' he laughed. 'I was in it!' he joked. He hadn't seen it yet. Maybe he'd watch it on the flight. 'Unless there is a 'John Wick,'' he said.
New York Times
10-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Flight Ban on Parrots Leaves Bronx Grandmother in Limbo for 4 Days
Maria Fraterrigo, a grandmother from the Bronx, was booked in seat 4A on a flight from San Juan to Kennedy International Airport on Saturday night. But when she got to the gate for her return flight to New York, she said, an agent for Frontier Airlines stopped her. Her companion, an African gray parrot named Plucky, which Ms. Fraterrigo has claimed as an emotional support animal and can say the names of her grandchildren, was on a no-fly list. Despite being allowed to bring Plucky on her outbound Frontier flight without incident in January, she said, the agent told her that parrots were among several types of birds and other animals prohibited by the airline. She said that rule essentially left her stranded. 'This guy from the counter yells at me and tells me, 'You're not going to make this flight,' ' Ms. Fraterrigo recalled in a phone interview on Wednesday. ' 'Give it to somebody. Get rid of it.' I said, 'No way, I'm not going to get rid of my baby.' ' For four days, the 81-year-old widow's travel plans were stuck in limbo, until Frontier appeared to have relented, ticketing her on another flight scheduled for Wednesday night. Plucky was expected to be in tow when Ms. Fraterrigo, completing her first trip since losing her husband in 2019, finally got to board. Her situation illustrated the tension between airlines and passengers over what kinds of animals are permitted on commercial flights, which at times might have gotten confused with a petting zoo until the federal government tightened rules for service animals on them. Miniature horses, pigs and other unusual pets found their way onto planes, but an emotional support peacock had not. Ms. Fraterrigo's ordeal captured widespread attention from the news media — ABC 7 Eyewitness News in New York was the first to report on it — and members of New York's congressional delegation lobbied for her to be rebooked with her parrot, including Senator Chuck Schumer. Jennifer F. de la Cruz, a spokeswoman for Frontier, said in a statement on Wednesday that the airline was working toward a resolution. She did not elaborate on how the parrot had been permitted on Ms. Fraterrigo's previous flight. 'We are currently investigating the matter and are in contact with the customer and her family to assist her in returning home as soon as she can present all of the government-mandated documentation,' Ms. de la Cruz said. 'As a matter of standard policy (as noted on our website) we do not normally transport parrots on our aircraft.' Since the death of her husband, Richard Fraterrigo, a former New York City police officer and retired federal judicial marshal, who got cancer while working in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Ms. Fraterrigo said that Plucky had provided her comfort. 'My bird is the only one that keeps me going,' she said. 'That's my company.' Ms. Fraterrigo, who was born in Puerto Rico and had vacationed there with her husband over the years, would not think of traveling without Plucky, her son, Robert Fraterrigo, said. In December, he began looking into whether his mother could bring Plucky on a flight, he said. While Frontier's website mentions parrots, macaws, cockatoos, birds of prey as examples of large birds that are prohibited, it says that small household birds may be carried on flights within the United States. In an online chat with a Frontier Airlines customer service agent, Mr. Fraterrigo said, he asked if his mother could bring her bird on a flight and said that she had a doctor's letter designating it as an emotional support animal. The agent responded, 'okay that's awesome,' adding that the letter was all she needed to bring to the airport, according to screenshots of the exchange provided by Mr. Fraterrigo, a retired federal agent. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation tightened the rules regarding what types of service animals airlines were required to accommodate. It said that emotional support animals were no longer considered to be the same as service animals, which were limited to dogs. The airlines have their own policies about pets permitted aboard planes. Plucky is 24 years old. She weighs less than 10 ounces and is about eight inches tall, according to her owner, who bought a bird-carrier backpack so she could place the parrot under the seat in front of her. 'They let her go there with it,' Mr. Fraterrigo said. 'Bring her home. She's on an island.' Mr. Fraterrigo said that Frontier initially would not budge, refunding the cost of the ticket (about $190) and giving his mother a $250 voucher. He said that his mother was hysterical when she called him from the airport that night. 'The lights were being turned out,' he said. 'She was just left there in a wheelchair.' A few days later, he said, Frontier had appeared to have relented, asking if his mother had a certificate of veterinary inspection for Plucky and documentation to show that the parrot had been purchased in the United States. Mr. Fraterrigo said that the store where his mother had bought the bird was able to dig up the records. She now had a new ticket: seat 3A. Angelo Roefaro, a spokesman for Senator Schumer, credited ABC7 with bringing Ms. Fraterrigo's situation to the office's attention, so it could 'help clear the bureaucratic runway at the airline so the constituent could talk to the right folks.' 'We are happy everything worked out,' Mr. Roefaro said. As she prepared to return to the airport on Wednesday, Ms. Fraterrigo said that she was feeling uneasy. And so was her usually chatty travel companion. 'Plucky talks,' she said, 'but Plucky doesn't talk when she flies because she's nervous.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Yahoo
Inside the elite world of helicopter commuting: 'It's like a bus to me'
On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in late February, Ernesto Tey walked from a meeting on the west side of Manhattan to the heliport at 30th Street on the Hudson River. He was early for his 3 p.m. Blade helicopter flight to Kennedy International Airport, so he ordered a drink at the lounge bar. A self-described "plane geek" who works for a software company and flies single-engine aircraft in his spare time, the Californian says he's taken about 30 Blades to and from Manhattan over the last few years. The nine-minute ride starts at $95 for those with a pass, and when an Uber in rush-hour traffic can take more than an hour and set you back more than $100, it doesn't sound so unreasonable. Plus, it's fun and the views are wild. "Where else can you fly in a helicopter for between $100 and $200?" he told me. A few minutes later, Tey and I and two other passengers climbed aboard a six-seat helicopter — just feet from Hudson River Park's busy waterfront walking and bike path — and soared 1,400 feet above the Hudson, around the southern tip of Manhattan, and across Brooklyn. Helicopter commuter and private charter services are steadily transforming the whirlybird from a plaything of the ultrawealthy to an on-demand rideshare for anyone with access to a company card or willing to blow a few hundred dollars on an Instagrammable experience. "Blading" has become a verb for the Hamptons set, as the industry has expanded its footprint in recent years, particularly in the New York City area. Less pleased with the rise of whirlybirds are those literally below them. Over the past few years, New Yorkers have taken to the city's nonemergency 311 complaint line to register their displeasure like never before. Helicopter noise complaints exploded by 678% in two years, from 3,332 in 2019 to 25,916 in 2021, based on 311 data compiled by Business Insider. Complaints more than doubled to 59,127 in 2023. Last year, they dropped to 28,686 — still far above the pre-COVID normal. The surge in complaints aligns with the rise of private charter and commuter services, on top of a loosely regulated sightseeing helicopter industry and a spike in law enforcement chopper flights. An analysis by the New York City Council of flights and complaints in May 2023 found that trips like the one I took from Manhattan to the airport and tour choppers from New Jersey generated the most complaints. But local, state, and federal leaders have done little to stop the chop in recent years. For all the hubbub about helicopters, they're only the harbinger of a future of much more crowded skies. The industry is on the verge of transformation by long-awaited electric choppers that the federal government, local policymakers, and helicopter services are already embracing as a way to vastly expand the air-taxi industry and make vertical urban travel mainstream. Helicopter commuting is nothing new in the Big Apple. Modern helicopters were invented at the start of World War II. In the 1950s, the aviation company New York Airways began offering relatively cheap chopper rides from the roof of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper to the city's airports. A deadly crash in 1977 tarnished the industry's glamorous image, but in the decades since, the city's skies have filled back up with choppers, including so-called "nonessential" charter flights and sightseeing services, as well as "essential" law enforcement, media, and medical flights. "It's like a bus to me. It's just transportation." Blade is on a mission to vastly expand rideshare in the skies. Its CEO, Rob Wiesenthal, told me the company's passenger business has grown from about $2 million in revenue in 2014 to more than $100 million last year. Earlier this year, it opened up its $95 airport shuttle service for Long Island and New Jersey commuters — marketing it as a way to skip New York City's new $9 congestion pricing toll on drivers below 60th Street. "If you think about $75 for parking and $9 for congestion pricing and $13 to $26 for whichever tunnel or bridge you take, you actually save money with the pass," Wiesenthal said. (He doesn't mention New York City's vast network of commuter trains. The A train from the airport will set you back a grand total of $2.90). What struck me about my fellow Blade passengers was how casually they treated the experience. Stephanie Fuhrman, who works for a software company based out of Utah, was in New York for business and opted for a Blade to save time getting back to JFK. "It's like a bus to me," she said. "It's just transportation." Plus, her Uber from the airport to Manhattan in morning traffic had taken about an hour and a half and cost her nearly $200, she said. "I couldn't take the risk going to the airport." The fourth passenger on our flight, Donal Collins, falls into the other category of Blade customer: leisure travelers seeking a joyride. The 27-year-old, who works at a Brooklyn-based AI startup, loves to fly, but this was his first whirlybird ride. On his way from New York to California, he decided to use the Blade gift card his brother had given him for Christmas. Blade's clientele ranges from C-suite executives to executive assistants. They're Hamptons-goers, commuters, and thrill seekers — and they've gotten younger over the years as prices have come down. Blade's busiest days are Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays when long-weekend travelers mix with the business crowd. While the cost of a chopper ride might be low for a well-compensated white-collar worker, the quality-of-life negatives for those they fly over are remarkably high. Looking down at the tiny skyscrapers from my seat next to the pilot, I was reminded of the similarly beautiful day in late September I'd spent picnicking on Governors Island off Lower Manhattan. What struck me then — and helped inspire my obsession with the helicopter industry — was how difficult it was to enjoy the idyllic car-free oasis with the near-constant chop-chop of helicopters overhead. Like many of the city's waterfront parks, the island has become what one anti-helicopter advocate told me is "ground zero" for chopper traffic. > Critics of the helicopter industry point to the safety hazards of congested skies and the environmental impact of the fuel-spewing machines. But the window-rattling racket they make tops the list of concerns. Loud, disruptive noise can have a range of physical and mental effects "from raising the biomarkers for stress to changing how people's hearts and metabolisms work, and reducing people's lifespan," Nick Shapiro, a professor of biology and society at UCLA who studies the health impacts of helicopter policing, told me. One 2017 study linked aviation noise to disrupted sleep, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and lower academic performance among kids. Aircraft noise is especially annoying because it's both loud and intermittent, Shapiro told me. Helicopters fly lower than planes and have the least regulated traffic patterns. Chopper noise doesn't affect everyone the same way. People who've lived in war-torn or hyper-policed areas might have a more acute mental or physical reaction. "Different populations might feel stalked or harassed by that noise in a way that is culturally and historically informed," Shapiro said. In the case of policing, the noise is often the point. Beginning during the 1965 Watts riots, the Los Angeles Police Department pioneered the use of helicopters to patrol neighborhoods. Flying low, sometimes using spotlights, most of the flights were used to deter crime rather than respond to emergencies. "The sonic impacts are intended and part of its hypothesized efficacy," Shapiro said. "It's about seeing the helicopter, rather than the helicopter seeing what's happening on the ground." A 2023 audit found the LAPD's helicopter program costs about $47 million a year — more than the budgets of 14 city agencies — and found "little evidence" that it reduced crime. New Yorkers have long made a stink about helicopters over their streets. Mayor Rudy Giuliani closed one of the city's heliports in 1997 under pressure from incensed residents. In 2016, the New York City Council came close to shutting down two of the city's heliports, but Mayor Bill de Blasio settled on a compromise that halved the number of tourist flights that originate in the city — from 60,000 flights a year to 30,000. Since then, New Jersey has seen a surge in helicopter tour operators, which fly an unknown number of choppers over the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and everywhere in between, unrestricted by the city's regulations. The New York City Council analysis of 2023 helicopter traffic found that the number of tourist choppers in city airspace that originated in New Jersey and Westchester County was about the same as the number launching from the city. Melissa Elstein began noticing an uptick in helicopters flying over her Upper West Side apartment and over Central Park in summer 2019. When she found out many were doors-off, shoe-selfie tourist choppers, she was incensed. "It's really insane that this is even allowed, especially given that we're also the most densely populated city and with some of the busiest skies," she told me. So Elstein decided to help revive Stop the Chop NY/NJ, a group pushing for much stricter regulation of nonessential choppers. The group has some high-profile supporters, including members of Congress and local elected officials. While the city controls what happens at its heliports, only the federal government, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration, controls New York City's airspace. New York Reps. Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, and Nydia Velázquez have introduced federal legislation to ban nonessential choppers over the city. Some local lawmakers support the federal ban and want to see the city government end tourist and commuter flights from city-owned and operated heliports. "There's just no reason that we should have city-owned helipads to fly the Uber elite out to JFK or the Hamptons at the expense of the quality of life and well-being of our communities," Lincoln Restler, a Brooklyn City council member, told me. There's precedent for regulating or banning helicopter traffic. There are no-fly zones above some of the country's most prized monuments — the White House and the US Capitol and, naturally, Disney World and Disney Land. Some major cities around the world, including Paris, have also basically banned nonessential chopper flights. And several European countries have ended short-haul plane flights to help curb carbon emissions. It's clear we're hurtling toward a future of highways in the sky. But it's not clear this future appeals to the average city dweller. New York City's Economic Development Corporation, which runs two of the three public heliports, has resisted efforts to further crack down on tourist flights in the city, citing the tourism dollars it brings in. Restler told me he doubts EDC's defense of helicopter tourism, calling it "kind of farcical" and instead motivated by a desire to keep the wealthiest New Yorkers happy. For all the headache, the city-owned heliports only bring in about $3 million a year in revenue, Anton Fredriksson, EDC's director of aviation, told me. "Essential flights" are also a growing part of the noise problem. Under Mayor Eric Adams, the New York police department's use of law enforcement choppers has risen dramatically. A 2024 Bloomberg investigation found that the force's helicopters spent 60% more time in the air in 2023 than in the previous four years. The NYPD's spending on the helicopter program more than doubled between fiscal year 2021 and 2023 to $12.3 million. The helicopter industry is on the verge of a major transformation. In 2023, the FAA published a report outlining its path to approving the first so-called electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft for commercial flight by 2025 — and widespread use by 2028. These machines are basically electric versions of helicopters — and have been hyped by the Silicon Valley set for years. Some chopper services, including Blade, want them to replace their use of combustion-engine helicopters. "This is the first phase of a really exciting new age where instead of moving around on the ground, we're able to move around in the air," Eric Allison, the chief product officer of one California-based eVTOL company, Joby Aviation, told me. Joby has partnered with Uber, Delta, Toyota, and the US government, and aims to launch its air taxi services at Uber Black prices and eventually hopes to bring them closer to UberX prices. It's not clear when they'll get final certification from the FAA to start ferrying people around the US, but they're undergoing approval in Dubai. After resisting the regulation of traditional helicopters for decades, New York leaders are embracing the electric rotor industry with open arms as the solution to noise and air pollution. Some support lifting caps on flights if they're electric. The mayor and EDC invited Joby and a German company to show off their machines in a test flight in downtown Manhattan in late 2023. Adams predicted at the event that "within our lifetime, many of you are going to own your own personal electric helicopter." There are some clear upsides to the technology — eVTOLs are much quieter than combustion-engine helicopters, and they don't spew jet fuel. Even some city lawmakers who've led the charge against the helicopter industry are welcoming their electric counterparts. "The future of electric air taxi travel represents innovation, sustainability, and expanded transportation options for our city," Amanda Farías, the New York City Council majority leader, said in a statement. Restler is more cautious. "Until we actually experience how they work in practice and what impacts they have, we don't know kind of what regulatory structure we need to protect the health, well-being, and safety of our communities," he said. Earlier this month, Blade announced it's expanding its JFK flight offerings to the downtown Manhattan heliport in an effort to help the heliport's new operator "gather data on consumer demand, flier experience, and logistics" and transition to eVTOLs. It's clear we're hurtling toward a future of highways in the sky — and we're already there in NYC. But it's not clear it's one that appeals to the average city dweller. It might warrant asking the question: Do we want the 1% taking over the skies? Eliza Relman is a policy correspondent focused on housing, transportation, and infrastructure on Insider's economy team. Read the original article on Business Insider
New York Times
21-03-2025
- New York Times
‘A million moving pieces': What happens when a hub like Heathrow shuts down.
London's Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest travel crossroads in the world. It handles about 1,300 flights a day, from more than 80 airlines. Nearly six million people and more than 130,000 tons of cargo moved through the London airport last month. So what happens when a hub this size grinds to a halt? First, the planes full of people and cargo already on their way to Heathrow have to find another place to land. Countless passengers have to find hotel rooms wherever they end up. Crews and pilots must take legally mandated rest. Airlines have to figure out how to reroute planes and cargo. Ian Petchenik, the director of communications at Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, described it as 'a million moving pieces that are all trying to get where they need to go.' Most major international airlines operate flights into Heathrow, which Mr. Petchenik called the 'crown jewel of most international airlines,' and it receives flights from the widest variety of air carriers of any airport in the world. When Heathrow shut down early Friday, 120 flights were already heading there. Some were able to land nearby, at other London airports or in Birmingham or Manchester. Others were redirected to continental European destinations like Amsterdam and Frankfurt. One British Airlines flight that left from New York's Kennedy International Airport ended up in Reykjavik, Iceland. A Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo went to Helsinki, Finland. In Taipei, the day's only flight to Heathrow took off shortly after 9 a.m. The plane had only made it past Hanoi when it turned around and headed back to Taipei, according to data from Flightradar24. But most flights ended up neither where they had started nor where they planned to go, setting off a global logistical scramble for hotel rooms and alternate flights as passengers tried to figure out how to make it to sightseeing tours, business meetings and family events. Officials in London said they expected the disruption at Heathrow to continue for several days. It could also take days for airlines to rebook the hundreds of thousands of passengers they expect to be affected. The shutdown of an important global transit hub for such a prolonged period of time is 'unprecedented,' Mr. Petchenik said. A rare, similarly extensive disruption occurred in 2010 when a volcano eruption in Iceland grounded more than 100,000 international flights over several days.
Boston Globe
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Detained Columbia University student disputes government's ‘bedbugs' claim in court papers
The lawyers have also asked a judge to widen the effect of any order to stop the U.S. government from 'arresting, detaining, and removing noncitizens who engage in constitutionally protected expressive activity in the United States in support of Palestinian rights or critical of Israel.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In his declaration, Khalil said he was put in a van when he was taken away from the Elizabeth facility and he asked if he was being returned to FBI headquarters in Manhattan, where he was taken immediately after his arrest. Advertisement 'I was told, 'no, we are going to JFK Airport.' I was afraid they were trying to deport me,' he recalled. Of his time spent at the Elizabeth facility, he wrote: 'I was in a waiting room with about ten other people. We slept on the ground. Even though it was cold inside the room, there were no beds, mattresses, or blankets.' In court papers over the weekend, lawyers for the Justice Department gave a detailed description of Khalil's March 8 arrest and his transport from Manhattan to Elizabeth and then to Kennedy International Airport in New York the next day for his transfer to Louisiana, where he has been held since. 'Khalil could not be housed at Elizabeth Detention Facility long-term due to a bedbug issue, so he remained there until his flight to Louisiana,' the lawyers wrote. They said he was at the facility from 2:20 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. on March 9. They also blamed his move on overcrowded facilities in the Northeast. Advertisement The lawyers have asked that legal issues be addressed by federal judges in New Jersey or Louisiana rather than New York. A Manhattan federal judge has not yet ruled on the request. Khalil's lawyers, who oppose transferring the case, wrote in a submission Monday that the transfer to Louisiana was 'predetermined and carried out for improper motives' rather than because of a bedbug infestation. Despite the bedbug claim, the Elizabeth Detention accepted at least four individuals for detention from March 6 through last Thursday and Khalil himself saw men being processed for detention while he was there, they wrote.
