Latest news with #civilrights
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration suggests hate crime charges after Cincinnati fight video
This story has been updated to reflect that Dominick Gerace II has been nominated to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio but has not yet taken office. A federal prosecutor suggested local authorities should think about using federal hate crime law while handling a fight in downtown Cincinnati that went viral over the weekend. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, retweeted a post on X from Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno and said, "Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans." Dhillon said that the division will monitor how local authorities handle this incident. "Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply," she added. The Enquirer reached out to the office of the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio but did not immediately receive a response. President Donald Trump has nominated Dominick Gerace II to the position but he has not yet taken office. Connie Pillich will prosecute 'to the fullest extent of the law' Ohio has its own hate crime laws on the books that can increase the level of an offense if someone commits a crime based on the "race, color, religion, or national origin" of another person or group of people which the law calls "ethnic intimidation." Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said in a statement to The Enquirer that she will prosecute the attackers "to the fullest extent of the law." "I stand by my statement and, when I receive the police reports, I will determine what charges legally available to us to present to the Grand Jury," she said. Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@ @ee_glynn on X or @eringlynn on Bluesky. This story was updated to add a video. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati fight video: Trump, prosecutor on hate crime charges
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
US placed on rights watchlist over health of its civil society under Trump
A group of global civil society organizations have placed the US on a watchlist for urgent concern over the health of its civic society, alongside Turkey, Serbia, El Salvador, Indonesia and Kenya. On Wednesday, a new report released by the non-profit Civicus placed the US on its watchlist following 'sustained attacks on civic freedoms' across the country, according to the group. Civicus pointed to three major issues including the deployment of military to quell protests, growing restrictions placed on journalists and civil society, as well as the aggressive targeting of anti-war advocates surrounding Palestine. At Civicus, countries are assigned a rating over their civic space conditions. The ratings include 'open', 'narrowed', 'obstructed', 'repressed' and 'closed'. The group has declared the US's civic space as 'narrowed'. According to the group, the 'narrowed' rating is for countries that still allow individuals and civil society organizations to exercise their rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression but where violations of these rights still take place. 'People can form associations to pursue a wide range of interests, but full enjoyment of this right is impeded by occasional harassment, arrest or assault of people deemed critical of those in power,' the rating description says, adding: 'Protests are conducted peacefully, although authorities sometimes deny permission, citing security concerns, and excessive force, which may include tear gas and rubber bullets, are sometimes used against peaceful demonstrators.' With regard to the media, countries with a 'narrowed' rating allow media to 'disseminate a wide range of information, although the state undermines complete press freedom either through strict regulation or by exerting political pressure on media owners'. 'The United States appears to be sliding deeper into the quicksands of authoritarianism. Peaceful protests are confronted with military force, critics are treated as criminals, journalists are targeted, and support for civil society and international cooperation have been cut back,' Mandeep Tiwana, Civicus's secretary general, said in a statement. 'Six months into Donald Trump's second term, a bizarre assault on fundamental freedoms and constitutional safeguards has become the new normal,' he added. Pointing to Trump's deployment of marines and national guard troops to California in June in response to the widespread protests against immigration raids, Tiwana said: 'This level of militarisation sets a dangerous precedent. It's a line that democratically elected leaders aren't meant to cross.' Tiwana also pointed to the Trump administration's latest attacks against media networks, including funding restrictions on public broadcast stations including PBS and NPR. 'What they're trying to do is actually defund critical news sources and deny American people the ability to receive truthful non-partisan reporting by pulling their funding,' Tiwana told the Guardian. In its report, Civicus also warned of the growing criminalisation of peaceful advocacy, adding that 'authorities have continued reprisals against activists expressing solidarity with Palestinian rights.' Citing the Trump administration's clampdown on foreign-born student activists including Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk, as well as the sanctioning of Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, Tiwana said: 'We are seeing a wide-ranging attack on civic space in the US by the federal and some state governments. Authorities in the US should reverse course from the present undemocratic path by guaranteeing everyone's first amendment right to organise and dissent legitimately.'
CBS News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Judge to consider whether Alligator Alcatraz legal challenge was filed in wrong jurisdiction
A legal challenge to a hastily-built immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades was filed in the wrong venue, government attorneys argued Wednesday in the first of two hearings over the legality of "Alligator Alcatraz" in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the federal lawsuit by environmental groups since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district, according to government arguments. Any decision by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami about whether to move the case could also influence a separate lawsuit brought by civil rights advocates who say that detainees at "Alligator Alcatraz" have been denied access to attorneys and immigration courts. The federal and state government defendants in the civil rights case also argue that the lawsuit was filed in the wrong venue. At the request of a judge, the civil rights groups on Tuesday filed a revised class-action complaint arguing that the detainees' constitutional rights were being violated. Environmental groups filed their lawsuit against federal and state officials in Florida's southern district last month, asking that the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. Besides Wednesday's hearing over venue, a second hearing has been scheduled for next week on the environmental groups' request for a temporary injunction. The first of hundreds of detainees arrived a few days after the lawsuit was filed, and the facility has the capacity to hold 3,000 people. The detention center was opened by Florida officials, but critics said it's unclear whether federal immigration officials or state officials are calling the shots. Deportation flights from "Alligator Alcatraz" started last week. Williams on Monday ordered that any agreements be produced in court between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Florida Department of Emergency Management, a move that could shed some light on the relationship between federal and state agencies in running the facility. Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane, as well as a threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Judge considers whether 'Alligator Alcatraz' challenge was filed in wrong venue
MIAMI (AP) — A legal challenge to a hastily-built immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades was filed in the wrong venue, government attorneys argued Wednesday in the first of two hearings over the legality of 'Alligator Alcatraz' in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the federal lawsuit by environmental groups since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district, according to government arguments. Any decision by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami about whether to move the case could also influence a separate lawsuit brought by civil rights advocates who say that detainees at 'Alligator Alcatraz' have been denied access to attorneys and immigration courts. The federal and state government defendants in the civil rights case also argue that the lawsuit was filed in the wrong venue. At the request of a judge, the civil rights groups on Tuesday filed a revised class-action complaint arguing that the detainees' constitutional rights were being violated. Environmental groups filed their lawsuit against federal and state officials in Florida's southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. Besides Wednesday's hearing over venue, a second hearing has been scheduled for next week on the environmental groups' request for temporary injunction. The first of hundreds of detainees arrived a few days after the lawsuit was filed, and the facility has the capacity to hold 3,000 people. The detention center was opened by Florida officials, but critics said it's unclear whether federal immigration officials or state officials are calling the shots. Deportation flights from 'Alligator Alcatraz' started last week. Williams on Monday ordered that any agreements be produced in court between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Florida Department of Emergency Management, a move that could shed some light on the relationship between federal and state agencies in running the facility. Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane, as well as a threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. ___ Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @
Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Inside Trump's Office of Civil Rights, where ‘white men replace minorities'
Donald Trump spent years raging against the Biden administration for elevating women and ethnic minorities into positions for which he said they were not qualified. Now, a president who pledged to crack down on favouritism towards select groups in government is being accused of the same bias — in reverse. At the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), a sub-agency of the Department of Education, staff say they are baffled by the crop of new political appointees entrusted with leading the agency's fight against discrimination in public education. 'They're just white, straight, male DEI hires,' a senior supervisor who recently left the agency told The Times. 'The irony of all of this is that the same people in the front office at OCR are now the same political appointees who were screaming their heads off about DEI.' The agency enforces civil rights laws in schools and universities and investigates disability, sex and race-based discrimination complaints. Under Biden the OCR was led by a woman, Catherine E Lhamon. She has been replaced temporarily by Craig Trainor, who was arrested and charged with drink-driving in Manhattan in 2010. 'We slyly referred to him as our DUI hire,' the former supervisor said. Trainor did not respond to a request for comment. The Department of Education denied that he was unqualified for the role, noting he had years of experience as a civil rights attorney. In addition to Trainor, four men are leading the OCR, three of whom are white. The youngest, David Samberg, graduated law school in 2023. A former senior supervisor said he was 'barely out of diapers' and 'not qualified to advise anyone on anything … None of these appointees have the experience or qualifications that any non-Trump administration would require, and many of them have no relevant experience at all.' In response to this the department cited Samberg's role drafting two reports on college campus antisemitism for Congress. It said: 'Both of these reports were the basis of the congressional hearing which caused the most prominent American university presidents, Harvard's President Claudine Gay and UPenn's President Elizabeth Magill, to resign after delivering unsatisfactory testimonies about their handling of antisemitism that the reports exposed.' It added that the agency as a whole was 'composed of top performing personnel with years of experience'. Despite accusations of favouring men, Trump has nominated a woman, Kim Richey, to permanently replace Trainor once she is confirmed. Richey served as acting head of the OCR at the end of Trump's first term before being replaced by Lhamon in November 2021. The overhaul of the agency is part of a wider transformation of the Department of Education, which Trump is gutting to cut costs and stamp out 'gender ideology' and antisemitism in public schools and universities. About a third of the department's 4,100-strong education workforce has been fired. • What does the Department of Education do and will it be dismantled? Six present and former department employees described their shock at the speed and extent of the administration's purge, in which staff have been placed on full paid leave for several months without explanation, entire offices have been shut and sensitive student data has been handed to immigration authorities. 'I worked through the first Trump administration — I wasn't expecting it to be this extreme,' said one former employee of Federal Student Aid, another office within the education department that oversees the nation's student loan programme. 'It's incredibly sinister what is happening.' In the past, high school students born to migrant parents in the US applied for a college loan with the Federal Student Aid office by submitting their family's personal data, knowing it would not be shared with immigration officials. Now, student aid employees are being forced to hand over this information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a source told The Times. 'I know that Federal Student Aid were running reports of people who were receiving aid and who their relatives might be,' the former worker said. 'We never did this before.' The Department of Education declined to comment on this allegation. Critics of the Department of Education claim it has ballooned in size and cost over the years without improving student outcomes. Trump is reducing expenditure across the department's 17 offices and the government plans to relocate some of their functions to other departments. More than $6 billion in federal funding for after-school programmes, teacher development, adult education and services for English learners was withheld by the government on July 1 as part of a spending review. It was released weeks later after a backlash from Trump supporters — but other cuts are still going ahead. Trump has told Linda McMahon, the education secretary, that her mission is to 'put herself out of a job'. Completely closing the department, however, would require an act of Congress. Insiders said it would cost millions to transfer the department's remaining functions to other agencies, as the administration has recommended. 'There's not going to be any efficiency created in this,' said one worker from the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education, which also falls under the umbrella of the education department. Scores of staff, meanwhile, remain on full paid administrative leave, with no indication whether they will be fired or brought back to work, department sources told The Times. The administration has been spending more than $7 million a month to keep staff on leave, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal workers' union. One senior manager working in the OCR was placed on leave in March 'without warning' after she complained to bosses that cuts to the office's IT and human resources staff had hampered her team's ability to function, a source said. Another department insider said she had been put on leave in January, alongside 73 others, as part of a DEI review. 'It disgusts me,' she said. 'We're being paid to stay away from our work. I only found out a week ago that they want me back. It's a complete mess.' Of the 1,300 people who have been fired throughout the Department of Education, a majority are thought to have been cut from the OCR. Seven of the OCR's 12 offices across the country have been shut, leaving staff in the five remaining offices — in Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, Atlanta and Washington — overwhelmed, according to one official who has been placed on administrative leave but remains employed by the office. Active cases from the closed offices are either being dropped or handed over to the OCR's remaining teams. 'I reckon 80 per cent of cases, maybe more, aren't being looked at,' the official said. The former senior supervisor said complaints against trans athletes in women's sport or alleged discrimination against white men were more likely to be 'fast-tracked'. This was no surprise, she added, given the people who are now leading the civil rights office. Meanwhile, both sources from the OCR said the majority of their work focused on disability complaints rather than gender ideology. 'It was everything from, 'My kid is in a wheelchair and the elevator has been broken for a month and they can't get to the cafeteria', to 'My child has a very rare form of dyslexia and needs a specialised support programme,'' the former supervisor said. 'Disability is a very bipartisan topic. Even Maga parents have kids with disabilities who need help. So these cuts are going to affect these families as much as they do Democrats.' The Department of Education said it had opened 20 complaints for investigation in the past week, nine of which were disability related, and that the OCR resolved six disability-related complaints in the past week. Julie Hartman, a spokeswoman for the department, said the OCR under Biden had misused resources 'intended to combat discrimination' and instead 'protected racial exclusion, permitted schools to push gender ideology on students, and even fought to keep sexually explicit material in school libraries.' She added: 'The Trump administration has reoriented enforcement to protect students and families, and it is now working to reform a broken federal bureaucracy.'
