Latest news with #dueProcess
Al Arabiya
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
US Will Try to Deport Abrego Garcia Before His Trial, Prosecutor Says
The US government would initiate deportation proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he's released from jail before he stands trial on human smuggling charges in Tennessee, a Justice Department attorney told a federal judge in Maryland on Monday. The disclosure by US lawyer Jonathan Guynn contradicts statements by spokespeople for the Justice Department and the White House, who said last month that Abrego Garcia would stand trial and possibly spend time in an American prison before the government moves to deport him. Guynn made the revelation during a federal court hearing in Maryland, where Abrego Garcia's lawyers have expressed concerns that he would be denied due process once more by the Trump administration before it likely tries to expel him again from the US. Guynn said that US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement would detain Abrego Garcia once he's released from jail in Tennessee and send him to a third country that isn't his native El Salvador. However, Guynn said he didn't know which country that would be. Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint over President Donald Trump's immigration policies when he was deported in March to a notorious megaprison in his native El Salvador. The Trump administration violated a US immigration judge's order in 2019 that shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs that terrorized his family. Facing increasing pressure and a Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the United States last month to face federal human smuggling charges. Abrego Garcia's attorneys have characterized the case as 'preposterous' and an attempt to justify his erroneous deportation. A federal judge in Nashville was preparing to release Abrego Garcia to await trial. But she agreed last week to keep Abrego Garcia behind bars at the request of his own attorneys. They had raised concerns the US would try to immediately deport him while citing what they say were contradictory statements by the Trump administration. For example, Guynn had told US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland on June 26 that the US government planned to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country that isn't El Salvador. But he said there was no timeline for the deportation plans. Later that day, DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press that the Justice Department intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before it moves to deport him. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson posted on X that day that 'Abrego Garcia will face the full force of the American justice system–including serving time in American prison for the crimes he's committed.' Abrego Garcia's attorneys have asked Xinis to order the government to take Abrego Garcia to Maryland upon release from jail in Tennessee, an arrangement that would prevent his deportation before trial. Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland outside of Washington for more than a decade working construction and raising a family with his American wife. Xinis is still considering his lawyers' request to send him to Maryland if he's released. Meanwhile, Xinis ruled Monday that the lawsuit against the Trump administration over Abrego Garcia's mistaken deportation can continue.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside enemy territory: A former IDF soldier's journey from Tehran to a Beirut jail cell
MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS: American-Israeli Dan Brotman has travelled across the Middle East as a citizen journalist in order to "understand the world" unseen by mainstream media. Dan Brotman is deeply concerned about the issue of due process, particularly with how mainstream media and society selectively focus on certain cases, such as that of Mahmoud Khalil. Why, for example, was Brotman's detainment and abuse in Lebanon for six days in December 2024 not something that outraged the masses? 'There's been so much support for Mahmoud Khalil, for example, in terms of him not being afforded due process, as well as the other international students, and there's so much media attention,' the seasoned world traveler began. 'And I'm like, Okay, well, I am an American, and I also wasn't afforded due process, and I was probably held in even worse conditions than them – surely there should be people who at least also want to tell my story. He lamented that there has been almost no interest from the mainstream media. 'So every time I see Mahmoud Khalil, I'm like: 'Is my life not worth as much as his?'' Brotman, who has American, South African, and Israeli citizenship and is in the process of adding a Canadian passport to his collection, had visited Lebanon twice before his arrest on his way home from Syria. A passionate traveler, he has also visited Taliban-run Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea – all countries where Americans and Israelis are generally unwelcome. He has also visited wartime Ukraine and Russia. He considers himself to be a 'citizen journalist' looking to uncover the truth about countries and their cultures. 'I don't only travel to crazy countries. I don't only travel to majority Muslim countries. One of my missions in life is to understand the world and to understand the complexity that we don't necessarily see in the mainstream media.' Brotman spends his free time 'going to different parts of the world, telling the stories of ordinary people,' showing people, for example, why we shouldn't be afraid of Iran, because 'we should understand that the people of Iran are very much against their government and deserve a lot of sympathy.' Of the many stories that Brotman shares on his social media, he goes out of his way to look for the Mizrachi Jewish component – something slowly being lost to time and the rewriting of history after most Jews were purged from the Middle East. In Damascus, under the new government, he spent time with one of the country's six remaining Jews. In Lebanon, he visited a Jewish cemetery, and in Iran, he filed formal permission with the regime to spend time with the Jewish communities of Isfahan and Tehran. Despite visiting some of the most regressive, suppressive, and violently run countries in the world, it was visiting Lebanon that made him the 'most scared' he had ever been. 'I was terrified in Lebanon the first time, but overall, I had a very positive experience,' Brotman confessed. 'I was terrified, because the conflict with Israel is so visceral. In Iran, it's not so visceral – they're far away. It doesn't impact people personally, like it does in Lebanon, because they're so close.' He first visited the country in 2021, and then again in 2022 when he had first intended to travel to Syria, but the Assad regime rejected his visa application. Despite forming connections and friendships in Lebanon, Brotman remained cautious. When his attempt to return from Syria via Jordan was canceled, he was somewhat nervous to make his exit through Lebanon. After arriving back in Beirut following eight days in Damascus, the traveling social-media journalist said the border officer took his passport and began staring at a screen 'for too long.' The wait seemed 'suspicious' at the time but the officials reassured him that there was just some kind of 'mix up.' With a 'thumbs up' from his tour leaders, Brotman followed the official but remained 'worried.' As it turned out, Brotman's anxieties were warranted. They asked him directly, 'Daniel, have you ever been to Israel or been in the Israeli army?' While he may have omitted that truth, he asserted that he had never lied about serving in the IDF and had little choice but to respond with an honest answer. 'I never lied to the Lebanese. No one ever asked me about Israeli citizenship before,' Brotman explained. 'I was never dishonest. And so I said, 'Yes, I was' and explained I lived in Israel, and I had to do army service.' AFTER HIS response, Lebanese officials told Brotman they were suspending him – something he didn't quite understand. They confiscated his phone, wallet, and watch and transported him to a cell with no bathroom and no natural light. 'There was no water in the cell. It was really filthy,' he recounted, explaining that he had been forced to urinate in empty plastic bottles due to the lack of facilities. His tour guide fled the country with his bag, Brotman said. He explained that she feared there would be something incriminating inside. Before leaving, she alerted the American consulate and informed his captors that he was an American citizen, hoping that would hold some weight and prevent him from being tortured by local authorities. The sudden captive traveler would later discover that each person in the tour group was investigated and Lebanese authorities had each of them write down their mother's names – searching for any indication that they were Jewish, he explained. The group quickly fled the country, changing their existing tickets. Brotman was later taken to an office and questioned. Authorities typed out a statement in Arabic and demanded he sign it, even though he doesn't understand the language. He demanded to speak to the US embassy, which authorities promised he would be allowed to do once he signed the form. Brotman still refused to sign until they translated the document with Google and he could verify its contents. During questioning, he asked the interrogator if he thought he would be treated this way if the roles were reversed and he tried to visit Israel. The interviewer just responded that he would never be in his situation. After a full day of questioning, he was driven 30 minutes away to be held in another city. Despite spending the day in custody, authorities failed to provide him with any food, and he was still not allowed to speak to the US embassy. It was on this first night that the psychological torture began, Brotman explained. A guard called into his cell that the embassy had sorted everything out and that he would soon be on a flight from Beirut home. This false statement would be repeated to him throughout his imprisonment. 'That's when I first learned that the Lebanese really lie, and you cannot trust what they say,' Brotman recounted. 'The Lebanese authorities came back eventually – this is maybe nine o'clock at night – and they put me in handcuffs. They put me in the back of a prisoner transport vehicle, and it sped to Beirut. Bottles were flying everywhere. I was in this cage thing in the back of the vehicle… holding on for dear life with handcuffs on,' he said. 'I was hoping that maybe we're going to meet at the embassy like they said we would. But of course, that didn't happen.' Instead of being taken to the US consulate, the terrified prisoner was delivered to the headquarters of the country's general security. They asked for the pass code to his phone, photographed him, and returned him to the vehicle to be driven back to a new cell, where he was again denied food. 'They went through everything in my phone – everything – every message, every photo, everything,' Brotman explained, speaking of his fear for his Lebanese friends and acquaintances whose numbers he had saved. Authorities had 'found the Lebanese numbers, and asked, 'Do these people know about you? How do you know this person?...' They even questioned him about a taxi driver who had driven him during a previous trip to Lebanon. During the search of his phone, they found a photo of Brotman donning tefillin (phylacteries) in Russia. Although he had already admitted that he was Jewish, they believed that this was evidence of some greater crime. While obsessive about his Judaism, authorities seemed unconcerned about his sexuality, despite Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code often being used to imprison and target members of the LGBT community. While not explicitly illegal under Lebanese law, the article punishes 'any sexual intercourse contrary to the order of nature' with up to a year in prison, with authorities using it to target non-heterosexual relationships, according to Amnesty International. 'They took me to a prison. I slept on a mattress in a cell, no blanket. It was really cold. I ask for a blanket. They didn't give me a blanket,' he recounted, speaking of the freezing conditions in the room. 'No access to the bathroom. Luckily, there was an empty water bottle, which I was able to use. And I wound up having to use water bottles during my entire detention.' When morning arrived on the second day, Brotman was crammed into a vehicle with many, mostly Syrian, prisoners. He was returned to the headquarters for more interrogations, but was placed where he could hear the sound of the Syrians being subjected to physical and psychological torture, he said. One Palestinian-Syrian man had a bag placed over his head as authorities pulled the trigger of a gun loaded with a single bullet, playing Russian roulette with his life. He recounted hearing the man being hit, but the gun never went off. Throughout this time, Brotman was never afforded an attorney. From that night onward, The petrified prisoner slept handcuffed in the locked office. He was only able to speak to two other prisoners during his time there. A German-Syrian man named Ahmed, who was denied access to the German embassy, provided him with comfort and advice on surviving the harsh conditions, advice he would later impart to another prisoner having suicidal thoughts as a result of his detainment. He was released by the authorities ahead of him; Brotman never learned the fate of the German man. On the third day, officials from the US embassy arrived. Brotman explained that the Lebanese had attempted to mask his treatment, even removing the handcuffs he had spent days living in. Still, the American prisoner showed the cuts on his wrists and did what he could 'to embarrass the Lebanese about the conditions I was being held in.' From then on, he was allowed to sleep without handcuffs. He was informed by the embassy that the White House did not want Israel to know about his situation, potentially fearing it could create wider issues in the region. 'I wanted Israel to know about it personally, but this was out of my control,' Brotman explained. 'I had no access to communicate with anyone, so I didn't even know if my family knew. I didn't even know if anyone was fighting for me on the outside; I didn't know if Israel knew; I didn't know who in the US knew. I really knew nothing.' Throughout his detainment, he was denied frequent requests for medical attention. He had picked up a parasite in Syria and was growing increasingly ill. 'I was very sick while I was there. I had a parasite. My whole group got very sick in Syria from the food,' Brotman recounted. 'The entire time, they kept on saying I could get medical attention, that I could get medication, but I never got it. So, eventually, on day five, when I met with the US Embassy again, I embarrassed the Lebanese and said, 'I haven't gotten the medical attention that I was promised. I have a parasite.'' Brotman braved making the comments in front of the head of general security, even going so far as to tell the embassy staff of the torture he had witnessed. One thing that continues to bother his is why the US Embassy failed to provide him with legal representation. He said staff arrived with a list of lawyers, but never presented him with the list. He was forced to appear before judges and go through the legal processes alone, representing himself. On the fifth day, Brotman's release was finally ordered by a judge, but they held him longer over an 'administrative step' they needed to take. 'They were constantly changing the rules; the goal posts were constantly shifting. I hadn't showered the entire time, hadn't brushed my teeth in days,' he said. 'Then they're like, 'ah, and now there's another administrative step. We have to get administrative permission for you to leave the country. And that could take three days.' Despite the appearance that the Lebanese officials were dragging their feet, Brotman was more confident that he would soon be freed. He had learned that US President Donald Trump was visiting Riyadh and knew that Beirut would not want to be holding an American prisoner while the president was in the region. 'I knew that Trump was meeting with the Lebanese president, and I was like, there is no way in hell that they can hold me when Trump is meeting with him. So I knew that the timing was perfect,' Brotman recounted. At 10 o'clock that night, 'the guard came into the room with my phone. This is the first time I've had access to my mobile phone... and the investigator says, 'We just got administrative approval. Book your ticket now.'' Despite wanting him gone, the guard denied his attempts to get an early morning flight the next day, telling him they didn't want to wake up that early. So, he was forced to wait another 24 hours to travel to London. Guards also warned him they would arrest him again should he wear the Magen David necklace that was confiscated from him at the airport. Even though he was eager to leave the country, Brotman explained that he knew he was being placed in dangerous conditions. Several articles have been written on Hezbollah's control of Beirut airport and the surrounding location, and the terror group had already made foiled attempts to take Israeli hostages in the same way Hamas did. The US Embassy had also promised to send staff to meet him at the site, a promise they failed to fulfill. Despite the risks, Brotman flew to London and was greeted by friends and loved ones without incident. Despite leaving Lebanon unscathed, he explained that the incident had left him with deep psychological scars. He feared Arab people approaching him for a week after his return, despite his general love of the Middle East, and panicked at the sound of footsteps outside his door. Brotman has since consulted with a Human Rights lawyer and is looking into taking action against Lebanon at The Hague. 'I know the UN is a bit useless, but for me, it's very important, just from a justice perspective, to have on record what happened to me.' He still struggles with the lack of understanding and sympathy he experienced upon his return. 'You don't have to agree with Mahmoud Khalil's activism, and you don't have to agree with people deciding to stay in the United States illegally, but at the end of the day, everyone, regardless of whatever they allegedly did, should be afforded due process,' the abused former prisoner said. 'That's the principle. And I just don't understand why there's such an outpouring of sympathy when some are denied due process. But when I'm denied due process, some people tell me 'You deserved it.' It's been very painful,' he said sadly. 'I'm an American who was held in subhuman and inhumane conditions without due process. Why did AOC [US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] greet Mahmoud Khalil at the airport when he arrived in New York? Why didn't I receive any contact from my senator, Marsha Blackburn [D–Tennessee], who knew I was being held? So I think that there are just questions – 'Why is my life worthless?' – I'm grappling with that.' Of the many difficulties now faced by Brotman, one particularly sour point is knowing that the incident will bar him from traveling to many countries throughout the Middle East, stopping him from engaging and learning from people. He was also doxxed in Canada by anti-Israel activists, which cements his situation as a known Jew and Israeli. Still, he has hopes that more countries, including Lebanon, would sign the Abraham Accords and he could resume his adventures. Despite serving in the IDF and holding Israeli citizenship, Brotman visited Iran. He visited the Islamist country after gaining South African citizenship in 2018, something that allowed him to avoid the complicated visa process he would have had to undergo as an American. He explained that during his 2019 trip, he had to seek government approval before being able to visit and speak with the Jewish community – a bureaucratic barrier not experienced by other populations there. Not one for abiding by red tape, Brotman asked a young boy in Isfahan if he knew where the local synagogue was. By some divine luck, the boy was Jewish and had been heading to synagogue, so he invited Brotman to accompany him. Walking into the synagogue, Brotman was met by an Islamicized version of the Judaism he grew up with. He recounted having to remove his shoes before entering the shul, a practice usually reserved for mosques, and how the crowds of Jewish women were forced to wear Islamic hijabs. The synagogue could not display the Magen David, he said, and instead relied on the menorah as a symbol of their faith. Despite the large number of attendees on Shabbat, Brotman found himself isolated and alone. He explained that he believed those around him were suspicious of an outsider and feared finding themselves in trouble with the authorities. Still, one man took the risk of opening up to the suspicious Shabbat guest and explained the abuse that the community suffered under the Islamic regime. While the country has Jewish schools, all must be overseen by a Muslim head master, Brotman explained. It is also illegal to teach about the atrocities of the Holocaust, separating Iranian Jewry from one of the greatest tragedies to befall their people and a major low moment in Jewish history. If any member of the Jewish community is found to have gone against the regime by visiting Israel or some similar slight, the entire community is collectively punished, Brotman recalled the man telling him. Still, many had made the journey to visit the Jewish state, their ancestral homeland. AFTER GETTING the green light from the regime to meet with the Jewish community, Brotman journeyed to Tehran's Palestine Street, which houses a large synagogue. It was here he was able to learn about what Jewish life was really like in a country that saw swastikas being openly sold in the streets. Tehran's four kosher restaurants were not allowed to advertise themselves as such and were barred from placing mazuzot on their external door frames. Throughout his conversations with local Jewry, he discovered the extent to which they were treated as 'second-class citizens' by the state. They were barred from owning large businesses or working in the civil service. The restrictions around Jewish labor may be one reason so many Iranian Jews find themselves in poverty and, Brotman explained, many distanced themselves from the idea of aliyah over fears of destitution in Israel. 'I felt it was very much a humiliating status that they were in, being barred from certain professions… the fact that people have to get permission to talk to them… My understanding is they had to cut all ties with any family members in Israel,' he shared. 'I cannot even imagine what it's like for the Jews in Iran now, because this was in 2019, but being constantly surveilled, not being able to fully teach about their history, they're cut off from the Jewish world. It was quite shocking.' Despite forming friendships and connections in Iran, Brotman came to the difficult decision to let that social network go cold. He was aware that many would face harsh sentences, potentially death, over connections to him, despite the community not knowing he was Israeli. While the Jewish community could be predicted to be treated with suspicion for unknowingly interacting with a former IDF soldier, Ayatollah Khamenei's personal media crew interviewed Brotman about his experience visiting a local shrine. During his first two visits to Lebanon, the country was without a real government, and its economy was in free fall. The Lebanese people were reeling from the Beirut blast tragedy and the coronavirus pandemic. During his visit, he was advised to avoid eating meat and dairy because the frequent power blackouts would put him at serious risk of food poisoning. Despite the country's messy situation, Brotman enjoyed his trip and the company of the civilians of the country. Still, little things were reminders of the control Hezbollah had. Brotman's tour guide took him to meet with Hezbollah, and visit a museum dedicated to the terror group, the Museum for Resistance Tourism. He described how the building was covered in a faux spider web, the sound of assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and footage of Israeli soldiers being killed. He laughed as he recalled the absurdity of an American Jewish woman at the museum who asked their Hezbollah tour guide what they thought of the two-state solution. The man's face 'went white,' he joked. Despite being surrounded by people who considered him an enemy, Brotman's adventurous spirit led him to take advantage of all that Lebanon had to offer. For the low cost of $50, he was able to fly above the Syrian border in a helicopter flown by the country's military – an experience unlikely to be had in a Western nation. He was even able to visit a military base, despite being a foreign national. Despite his love of the Lebanese people and his enjoyment of the country, Brotman was nervous to reveal himself as being Jewish. He eventually confessed to one friend, who responded well to the admission. Putting aside his feelings of insecurity, he elected to visit the country a second time in hopes of exploring Jewish history there. He located a Jewish cemetery but found it locked – although he was eventually able to access it after climbing over from the neighboring Christian graveyard. A local shop owner told him about the country's once-flourishing Jewish community, his memories of the Jews, and how he himself had been circumcised by a Jewish mohel as a baby. Despite not being able to find a living Jew in Lebanon, the community still had signs of life. He discovered a grave from 2018 and some Danish embassy workers told him of a local family who ran a chocolate shop, but he was unable to meet them. 'In a nutshell, my experiences in Lebanon were very positive. The people have been given the short end of the stick,' Brotman concluded. 'They have a government that has not been held accountable for the port blast, where hundreds of Lebanese died, and I saw the damage. They have an economy that's in ruins. They deserve so much better than what they have. The Lebanese people are good people and they're very resilient.' When he built the confidence to ask about Israel, many civilians said they dreamed of peace with their Jewish neighbors. It was only the Shi'ite Muslims in Lebanon who seemed intent on conflict, he said. Having had the rare opportunity to rub shoulders with many in the Arab world, including members of terror organizations and officials from hostile nations, The Jerusalem Post asked Brotman what his findings were on whether Israel's enemies have an issue with antisemitism or anti-Zionism – a debate which continues to overshadow the global anti-Zionist movement. Reflecting on how Lebanon threatened him if he wore his Star of David while still in the country, the way authorities checked if his fellow tour members had Jewish mothers, and how a photo of him donning tefillin was treated as evidence, Brotman concluded that antisemitism was an essential component in how the country treated him and was embedded in their mentality. 'I think in some of these places, they say: 'We don't have a problem with Jews, we just have a problem with Israel' [but] I've sort of concluded that that's not the case… because I think it's too hard to separate the two,' he shared. 'Any Jewish person, even if they're not an Israeli citizen, is an Israeli citizen in the waiting. They can become an Israeli citizen tomorrow. A Jewish person can come to Lebanon, or any of these countries, do whatever they want to do, and then the next day apply for Israeli citizenship. 'Every Jew is a potential Israeli citizen. Most of us have either family or friends or some kind of ties there, because half of the Jewish people live there. So I think it's very, very hard to separate Jews and Israel as much as they'd like to say so.' DESPITE THE risks of traveling as an Israeli on a foreign passport – highlighted by cases like that of Russian-Israeli Elizabeth Tsurkov – and his own treatment in Lebanon, Brotman said he had no regrets about his trips. He saw them as a first step toward building peace and restoring humanity to people shaped by government incitement. The world-traveling journalist stressed that for things to improve, change had to come from within. In democratic nations, the people had to decide to vote for something better and where voting wasn't an option, they need to take action to demand better. 'They all deserve better governments, and it's going to need to come from the people. That's one thing that needs to happen for the path forward: a bottom up change,' Brotman shared. The other thing that needs to happen is we need to start humanizing each other, he said. 'How many Israelis have actually met a Lebanese person who lives in Lebanon or an Iranian person who lives in Iran? I'm not talking about a bitter exile living in Los Angeles, I'm talking about someone who really lives in Iran. I think that building human-to-human bridges is extremely important, and it becomes very difficult when those bridges are criminalized,' Brotman said. 'In Lebanon, if they even see that you make a phone call to Israel, they'll arrest you. So when human-to-human bridges are [blocked], there's a reason why they don't want us to have contact with each other. If we want contact with each other, we're going to realize that the other side is human, that we deserve a better reality, and we're going to want to change the government. So I think countries like Lebanon and Iran want to prevent that in every way possible,' he said. 'I think that we need to stop fearing each other,' Brotman concluded. 'As Jews and Israelis, we need to realize that these people are the biggest victims of their own governments. As horrible, as terrible as these countries are to Israel, do you know what they do to their own people?' The Jerusalem Post elected to withhold parts of this interview to protect members of Iran's Jewish community.
CBC
04-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
N.B. codes of conduct allow for degree of council secrecy not possible under N.S. rules
Under New Brunswick rules, the public can be kept in the dark when their local officials face discipline — an approach far less open than one adopted next door in Nova Scotia. In Strait Shores, in eastern New Brunswick, a councillor was temporarily suspended after an investigation that was kept from the public and was later found to have violated due process. In the northern municipality of Heron Bay, which includes Dalhousie and Charlo, council suspended Mayor Normand Pelletier and, as Radio-Canada reported, has refused to publicly say why. And in Sunbury-York South, the municipality has not publicly shared details of why Mayor David Hayward was suspended at a recent meeting. Questions about due process have also arisen in Grand Lake, where a councillor was suspended in April following an investigation that never let her respond to the allegations she faced. But if those four municipalities had been in Nova Scotia, recent legislation would have required details to be made public, following a clearly outlined due process for everyone involved in the investigations. N.B. code has ambiguity, expert says Last October, Nova Scotia adopted a new code of conduct for municipal elected officials, which acts as a blanket policy for all 49 municipalities in the province. That's different from New Brunswick, where the Local Governance Act gives municipalities some guidelines that must be in their code of conduct but leaves it up to each council to create and implement their own version. "The Nova Scotia code is clearer and avoids ambiguity like the one we have in New Brunswick," said André Daigle, a municipal law lawyer in Dieppe who's been working with municipalities and local planning commissions for more than 30 years. Daigle said municipalities are left "in a vulnerable state because of the void that they have to fill themselves with the code of conduct." Because of this, there are minor variations among the codes of New Brunswick councils. The Nova Scotia code clocks in at 3,971 words, New Brunswick's has 898 words. Nova Scotia also mandates regular training on the new code for all elected officials, which is something the New Brunswick Union of Municipalities had called for. For procedural fairness, the Nova Scotia code requires that a council member who is the subject of the complaint be given an opportunity to review and respond to information in an investigator's report. Details about who the investigator is and their contact must also be public. And when imposing a sanction on a councillor, council must consider whether the member's contravention was intentional, a first-time offence, and whether the member has taken any steps to remedy the issue. "And if they turn their mind to those factors, the hope, from what I can see, is that the sanctions will flow better," Daigle said. "And they'll be more measured if you take those things under consideration." N.S. code includes clear outlines for transparency Transparency is also a key focus of the Nova Scotia code. Once a council has acted on a complaint, it must publicly share what specific rule was broken, the investigator's recommendations and what sanctions were imposed. In New Brunswick, a council must only make a report available to the complainant and the affected member of council. The council must review the report at a meeting and vote on a next step, but the meeting is allowed to be closed to the public if council deems the matter confidential. "We're not really sure how to handle those investigations and at what point it becomes public and what details come out in public," Daigle said. By comparison, he described the Nova Scotia regulation as having "a fantastic framework." He said the New Brunswick code should speak more to the process of a code of conduct investigation. Currently, the code says that there must be "a fair and impartial process for investigation." "What is a fair and impartial process for an investigation? Don't leave municipalities guessing how to draft these. We have 72 municipalities, you're going to have 72 versions of the bylaw." CBC News requested an interview with the Department of Local Government but one was not provided. When asked why New Brunswick doesn't have requirements similar to Nova Scotia's, a spokesperson did not answer the question and instead said it is up to the discretion of each province and territory to establish regulations "as they best see fit." Local Government Minister Aaron Kennedy told CBC News in April that it's best for councils to handle their disciplinary process with little interference from Fredericton. 'We need to be held to a certain standard,' N.S. official says Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood, the president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, said the association spent two years helping draft the new legislation. She said it was important the code of conduct be the same across the province because it was confusing to have something be outlawed in one municipality but allowed in a neighbouring municipality. "We're here to serve the public," Mood said. "And so sometimes we need help, not because everybody's dishonest, but because we need to know what the rules are and where we can go." Before the new policy was enacted, Mood said, she would hear about councils having code of conduct violations "all the time." "You have people screaming at each other … at a table where they were elected together to be a team, treating each other like they're the enemy," she said. "It's childish and there's no need for it. You know, that type of behaviour is not power. It's exactly the opposite." As for the transparency provisions of the new code, Mood said the public deserves to know what their elected officials are doing. "Tell us if somebody's misbehaving, did I elect that person?" she said.
Fox News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Noncitizens get ‘only limited' due process rights: Conservative legal expert
FIRST ON FOX: Courts have repeatedly stymied President Donald Trump's efforts to quickly remove noncitizens living illegally in the country, but a conservative think tank is warning that the judiciary branch could, at times, be overstepping. The Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the organization and a former Department of Justice official, detailed in a new memorandum how noncitizens' due process rights are minimal when they are facing deportation. "As provided by Congress and by some court decisions interpreting the Constitution, aliens have only limited due process rights in immigration proceedings," von Spakovsky wrote in the document, reviewed by Fox News Digital in advance of its publishing. The document makes clear that noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, have the same rights as citizens when it comes to criminal proceedings. If a noncitizen has been charged with a crime, that person is entitled to a lawyer just like a citizen would be, for example. But outside of that, the legal processes for noncitizens facing deportation vary widely depending on their circumstances. These cases are often handled in immigration courts rather than federal courts. Heritage's document suggests how due process, a contentious topic at the heart of many of the Trump administration's immigration-related court cases, should apply to noncitizens in various scenarios. "Those rights differ depending on the status of the aliens and whether they are outside the United States and trying to enter this country or are already in the country, either legally or illegally, as well as their visa or other status," von Spakovsky wrote. Immigration law allows for near-immediate deportations in cases where a migrant has crossed into the country illegally but is apprehended within two years. "That alien can be removed without a hearing or any other proceeding," von Spakovsky said. But he added a caveat that has become a major source of frustration among border control advocates: "unless the alien requests asylum or asserts a credible fear of persecution if returned to his or her native country." If a migrant requests asylum, a form of protection for a person who fears they will be persecuted if sent back to their home country, an immigration officer, immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and even the federal circuits and Supreme Court could all end up having a say in that migrants' case before their asylum claim is fully vetted. Critics of the asylum system say it has been roundly abused and that migrants making bogus asylum claims is common practice and allows migrants to be released into the country and drop off the government's radar. That concern came to a head on Wednesday, when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a 124-page order blocking the administration from severely limiting asylum claims. The judge said Trump attempted a "wholesale rewriting" of immigration laws. Attorney General Pam Bondi has signaled an appeal is imminent. The Heritage Foundation has been a presence in Republican politics for decades and has significant influence over government policy. The organization spearheaded Project 2025, a controversial playbook designed for Trump to use as a blueprint for his second term. Heritage's new memorandum comes as due process has become the bane of the administration as it attempts to deliver on Trump's vows to deport all illegal immigrants. Stephen Miller, Trump's immigration adviser and White House deputy chief of staff, has been railing against the courts and immigration rights groups, who he claims have overplayed their hand and are illegally derailing Trump's agenda. "The only process illegals are due is deportation," Miller wrote online in May. The topic has cropped up in numerous heated, high-profile court cases, many of which remain pending. Kilmar Abrego Garcia alleged he was wrongly deported to El Salvador despite an immigration judge forbidding it. A group of deportees bound for Sudan, but held up in inhumane conditions in Djibouti, argued in court that they got no due process. And numerous men deported under the Alien Enemies Act to a Salvadoran megaprison have claimed in courts that they were not afforded a chance to contest their removal. Von Spakovsky indicated that the Supreme Court would ultimately continue to decide where lower courts were, or were not, overstepping. "Federal courts that assume jurisdiction over banned, prohibited, or limited claims by aliens are violating federal law, and the Supreme Court should tell them so," he wrote. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that the Constitution extends due process to anyone on U.S. soil, but illegal immigrants do not have the same rights as citizens to it. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed noncitizens are entitled to some form of due process. "It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law in deportation proceedings," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in Reno v. Flores in 1993. In an order in April, the Supreme Court cited Scalia's words when it directed the Trump administration to give "reasonable" notice to the alleged transnational gang members at risk of being deported under the Alien Enemies Act. The high court said those who are subject to the Alien Enemies Act must be given a chance to "seek habeas relief" before they are deported. Habeas corpus petitions are a form of legal recourse for those who believe they have been wrongly detained.
CBC
26-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Suspended regional directors defiant in fight against Métis Nation-Saskatchewan
A pair of suspended Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) regional directors are not backing down from their fight with the organization. On Tuesday, Sherry McLennan and Wendy Gervais were barred from the room at the Dakota Dunes conference centre south of Saskatoon where newly elected members of the MN-S government were being sworn in. They arrived to find the agenda already listed them as "not in attendance." The two regional directors were both re-elected in the MN-S election on May 24 — McLennan in Western Region 2 and Gervais in Western Region 3. McLennan and Gervais were barred from attending meetings of the Provincial Métis Council (PMC) after a harassment complaint against them and two other people. The two regional directors said they are limited in what they can publicly share about the process, but that they didn't receive due process and the PMC has no right to bar them from their governance roles. "The constitution of the Métis-Nation Saskatchewan is very clear," Gervais said Thursday, standing beside McLennan at a news conference in Prince Albert that was packed with about 100 supporters. "Regional representatives hold constitutionally protected roles, and there is no mechanism that allows for our removal without due process. "Further, as our legal counsel has noted, any attempt to remove us must originate from the citizens of our regions, not from political actors behind closed doors." MN-S responded with a statement. "The complaint was the culmination of the ongoing harassment of the PMC's sole employee, MN–S Chief Executive Officer Richard Quintal, by McLennan, Gervais, and two other previously elected individuals," the statement said. "In response to the CEO's complaint, the four individuals filed counter complaints against the CEO." MN-S said an investigation into the complaints sided with Quintal and that his human rights had been violated. The investigator also said the four counter-claims were unfounded and "they will not be permitted to attend any PMC meetings until such apology is provided." At the time, McLennan, Gervais and the other two people accused of harassment said in a statement that they were "unilaterally sanctioned" and that the harassment investigation was "improperly conducted." On Thursday, McLennan laid some actions they want MN-S leadership to commit to: Acknowledge procedural failings in the handling of the complaint. Commit to an approach that respects the rights and dignity of all complainants, especially women. Ensure that the harassment complaints are taking seriously and reinvestigated through a fair, independent and respectful process. Guarantee that all future investigations adhere strictly to the policy, including mutual agreement on a third-party investigator and timelines that allow for safe and supported participation. Reaffirm a commitment to the safety and inclusion of Métis women within all levels of the MN-S. Restore McLennan and Gervais's seats at the table immediately and allow them to take their oaths of office. Gervais said this controversy is bigger than the suspension. "This is about the integrity of our governance, about the right of elected representatives to do their job they were chosen to do, about ensuring that Métis women are no longer silenced for speaking up, and that internal grievances, however valid they are, are handled through fair and culturally respectful processes, not through political punishment." McLennan said the suspensions are an attempt to stifle their voices. "I believe my voice has been shut out because I'm a woman and I really support my Western Region 2 and I bring their voices to the table," McLennan said. The MN-S response statement said the sanctions against the women will remain in effect until they publicly apologize. MN–S president Glen McCallum said it is a human rights issue. "One of our staff was harassed in a very public forum and our government prides itself on being able to provide a safe work environment, free of that kind of treatment by elected [officials] or otherwise, and have taken the necessary steps to address the situation," he said.
