Latest news with #LegalAidSociety
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Yorkers react to Trump's travel ban for certain countries: ‘Bad intentions'
QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11)– Hundreds of people living in New York neighborhoods are now trying to figure out how they will see their families again. Starting June 9th, 2025, President Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States, and there is restricted access for people from seven other countries. President Trump cited national security concerns. More Local News The ban announced Wednesday applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The heightened restrictions also apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa. Emmanuel Therassens, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 to attend college, told PIX11 News the travel ban means he won't be able to return to his native Haiti to visit his father and other family members. Therassens currently has Temporary Protected Status and is working while living in Queens. His father, who still lives in Haiti, was trying to get a travel visa to visit him since the two have not seen each other in four years. 'When we hear this news, it really takes a big toll on us because there is nothing we can do about it, to change the situation,' Therassens told PIX 11 News. 'Everyone is being portrayed as those people with bad intentions. Most of the people who are eager to come to the United States these are hard working people who just want a better chance at life.' The New York Immigration Coalition and the Legal Aid Society are among the groups closely monitoring this latest presidential order. Hasan Shafiqullah, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, told PIX 11 News, 'for them to say entire countries are categorically banned does not serve national security, this is purely, it is politics, this is keeping out people mostly of color, this is about xenophobia, it is about racism.' In 2017, President Trump's Muslim ban was met with legal challenges. Murad Awadeh, the President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said this time, 'It should not impact people who currently have status from those countries, but what we saw in 2017 was that regardless of that, people who were green card holders were put in detention at airports.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
New York police arrest 'social media prankster' who dumped food on himself at local businesses
CENTEREACH, N.Y. (AP) — Police in the suburbs of New York City have arrested who they described as a ' social media prankster' over viral videos in which he dumps heaps of food on his head and runs away, leaving others to clean up his mess. Kyle Vazquez, 21, was arrested in Centereach, on Long Island, on Monday. He was charged on eight counts, including six counts related to recording people without their consent and two counts of criminal tampering, police said. The Coram resident pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday and was released pending his next court date on June 30, according to prosecutors and court records. Suffolk County police say Vazquez dumped a tub of eggs on his head in front of a Ralph's Italian Ices in Centereach on April 29. He then fled in a car, leaving a mess of broken eggshells in the entranceway, police said. Vazquez pulled a similar stunt at a Chinese eatery in town the next day, pouring a bucket of beans over his head while standing shirtless in the middle of the establishment. Then in May, Vazquez visited three homes and asked the residents if he could use the bathroom. He then created a disturbance and filmed residents without their knowledge or consent, police said. Vazquez posted videos of the stunts, along with many others, on his TikTok account, which has more than 100,000 followers. The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, which is representing Vazquez, didn't respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
Vancouver Sun
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
David Eby defends Downtown Eastside adviser appointment — and firing
VICTORIA — An unhappy Premier David Eby met with reporters this week to explain why he terminated Michael Bryant as the NDP government's special adviser on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Eby had taken a personal hand in recruiting Bryant, having been impressed with his performance as head of the B.C. Legal Aid Society. 'He did some very heavy lifting there, some significant restructuring of that organization in the context of a new government coming in with a different approach, when I was attorney general,' Eby told reporters on Tuesday. 'I'm grateful for his work there. It was why I thought he would be an appropriate fit to do the work in the Downtown Eastside.' Never mind Bryant's sudden and unexplained departure from the Legal Aid Society last year. Eby professed not to know anything about that — nor, apparently, did he ask. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Bryant's experience in the political arena came as a cabinet minister in Ontario, including a four-year stint as attorney general. He later wrote a book about his struggle with alcoholism. That outsider status was one of the reasons Eby was attracted to him. 'I wanted someone to come in with fresh eyes, to have a look at the thing with no connections to the neighbourhood, but who had an empathy and understanding for the challenges of addiction, an understanding of the law and understanding the realities of politics. He seemed to check those boxes.' Eby still thinks Bryant was the right choice. When a reporter asked if there were no better qualified candidates in B.C., the premier bristled. 'With respect, I understand you disagree with the appointment,' he replied. 'But he was in this province. He worked at Legal Aid. It was my feeling he would be a good appointment for it.' Eby bristled a second time when a reporter asked if it were a mistake for the government to have 'hidden' the Bryant appointment from the public. 'Well, you're wrong. It certainly wasn't hidden. Mr. Bryant was open. He was quite open in his meetings in the Downtown Eastside,' the premier replied. Rather, the problem was a failure to communicate the news to the public. 'There is definitely an issue in our communication shop not getting that information bulletin out about his appointment,' the premier conceded. 'But you're absolutely wrong. He was operating quite openly. Multiple meetings with the mayor, with senior non-profit operators. This was not a secret.' The premier's not-a-secret defence recalls how, before the last election, his government launched a public consultation on changes to the Land Act without telling the public. If the Bryant appointment weren't secret, it wouldn't have made such a big splash in the news cycle when it was reported by Global TV last week. Nor would the appointment have become such a flashpoint in question period in the legislature for much of last week. Nor would there be lingering questions about Bryant's exit with a $75,000 payout for a half-finished assignment. Eventually, Eby had to admit that secrecy had dealt a fatal blow to the Bryant appointment. 'It should have been announced at the beginning. There was intent to send out an information bulletin that never got sent out,' he said. 'It would have been a lot better had the information bulletin been released as planned. And it wasn't. That was a serious mistake and, unfortunately, it ended up where we are today.' A second factor embroiling the Bryant appointment was the lingering controversy over his departure from Legal Aid a year ago. The premier made the concern relevant by insisting that Bryant's record at Legal Aid had qualified him for the Downtown Eastside assignment. Eby conceded both factors — the secrecy and the Legal Aid departure — in fielding a question from Rumina Daya, the Global TV reporter who broke the story of the Bryant appointment. 'Rumina, your question illustrates exactly why we've had to terminate the contract,' the premier replied. 'It (the story) became about Michael Bryant and apparently about Legal Aid B.C. when it needs to be about the Downtown Eastside and it needs to be about the people there. And that's why we terminated the contract.' So back to square one on the DTES? Not quite, Eby claimed. 'Actually, I was quite heartened and excited by the work that Mr. Bryant has done and thought that he was going to provide us with some very helpful work. And in fact, his briefings to date have provided a foundation for us to be able to move forward,' said the premier. 'I look forward to be able to share more as we develop our work on the Downtown Eastside, but it will go ahead without Mr. Bryant.' The government, he added, was not currently looking for a replacement for the ousted special adviser. What did Bryant say when Eby broke the news of the termination? 'I haven't spoken to Mr. Bryant,' the premier replied. Eby personally selected Bryant as his fresh pair of eyes on the Downtown Eastside. He left the firing to staffers in the Ministry of Children and Family Development. vpalmer@
Straits Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
US judge takes control of New York's troubled Rikers Island jail
FILE PHOTO: Jail cells are seen in the Enhanced Supervision Housing Unit at the Rikers Island Correctional facility in New York March 12, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo A federal judge on Tuesday said she is taking control of New York's troubled Rikers Island jail complex away from city officials and appointing an independent official to oversee it, citing a decade of worsening violent and dangerous conditions inside the facility. In a 77-page decision, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said she would select a "remediation manager," reporting directly to her, who would enjoy broad powers to reform Rikers, including authority to revise the jails' rules, hire staff and take disciplinary actions against employees who violate policies on the use of force. "As the record in this case demonstrates, the current rates of use of force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high, and there has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who live and work in the Rikers Island jails," Swain wrote. In a statement, the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, which represented inmates in the case, said, "This appointment marks a critical turning point — an overdue acknowledgment that city leadership has proven unable to protect the safety and constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals." The office of Mayor Eric Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The city had proposed that the current corrections commissioner take on the role of "compliance director" to oversee reforms at Rikers. Tuesday's ruling comes six months after Swain found the city and its Department of Correction in contempt of 18 provisions of court orders designed to improve the violent conditions facing inmates and staff. The city agreed in 2015 to have a court-appointed monitor keep tabs on Rikers and issue regular reports on its conditions, part of a consent decree to settle a class-action lawsuit. There were 6,784 incidents of use of force at Rikers in 2023, up from 4,652 in 2016, and 33 people had died in custody since 2022, according to figures the judge cited in November. Rikers housed more than 6,000 inmates as of mid-2023, one-fifth of whom suffered from serious mental illness, according to an investigation that year by the city comptroller's office. The City Council has previously approved a plan to close Rikers by 2027 and open four new city jails elsewhere, but the city is not on track to complete the new centers by the deadline. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
13-05-2025
- Reuters
US judge takes control of New York's troubled Rikers Island jail
May 13 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday said she is taking control of New York's troubled Rikers Island jail complex away from city officials and appointing an independent official to oversee it, citing a decade of worsening violent and dangerous conditions inside the facility. In a 77-page decision, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said she would select a "remediation manager," reporting directly to her, who would enjoy broad powers to reform Rikers, including authority to revise the jails' rules, hire staff and take disciplinary actions against employees who violate policies on the use of force. "As the record in this case demonstrates, the current rates of use of force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high, and there has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who live and work in the Rikers Island jails," Swain wrote. In a statement, the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, which represented inmates in the case, said, "This appointment marks a critical turning point — an overdue acknowledgment that city leadership has proven unable to protect the safety and constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals." The office of Mayor Eric Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The city had proposed that the current corrections commissioner take on the role of "compliance director" to oversee reforms at Rikers. Tuesday's ruling comes six months after Swain found the city and its Department of Correction in contempt of 18 provisions of court orders designed to improve the violent conditions facing inmates and staff. The city agreed in 2015 to have a court-appointed monitor keep tabs on Rikers and issue regular reports on its conditions, part of a consent decree to settle a class-action lawsuit. There were 6,784 incidents of use of force at Rikers in 2023, up from 4,652 in 2016, and 33 people had died in custody since 2022, according to figures the judge cited in November. Rikers housed more than 6,000 inmates as of mid-2023, one-fifth of whom suffered from serious mental illness, according to an investigation that year by the city comptroller's office. The City Council has previously approved a plan to close Rikers by 2027 and open four new city jails elsewhere, but the city is not on track to complete the new centers by the deadline.
