Latest news with #MS13
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Trump secretly prepares military action against drug cartels
US President Donald Trump has secretly ordered the Pentagon to begin using military force against Latin American drug cartels previously labeled 'terrorist organizations', The New York Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The new presidential directive provides an official basis for the use of the US military in operations against cartels at sea and on foreign soil. The Pentagon has already started drawing up options the military could use in going after such organizations, the sources told the NYT. It was not immediately clear what the White House, Pentagon, and State Department lawyers said about the directive, the newspaper noted. The suspected cartel members still count as civilians, and their potential elimination by the military raises various legal issues. Back in February, the Trump administration designated multiple foreign drug cartels and organized crime groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). The list includes major crime syndicates like the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The designations were also slapped on transnational gangs active in the US, including Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which is composed primarily of Salvadorians, as well as largely Venezuelan Tren de Aragua organized crime groups. Last month, the Trump administration added the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles on the list, claiming the criminal organization is headed personally by the country's President Nicolas Maduro and involves other high-ranking government and military officials. Maduro was indicted on federal drug charges by a US court in 2020, during the first Trump term. The Venezuelan president has repeatedly denied the allegations, stating the charges against him were a part of Washington's effort to overthrow the country's government. On Thursday, the US Justice and State Departments announced that Washington was doubling the reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro to $50 million, while claiming Venezuela's president has been collaborating with Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel as well. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has challenged the new allegations, asserting that her country has seen no evidence of such ties between her Venezuelan counterpart and the cartels.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
President gives OK for military to target drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations: report
President Donald Trump has reportedly put his signature to a secret directive allowing the Department of Defense to use military force against Latin American drug cartels which the government has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Citing persons familiar with the matter, the New York Times reported on Friday that the secret order gives official authorization for potential military operations against cartels in international waters and on foreign soil. Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively pushed to involve the military in law enforcement operations, testing the bounds of a Civil War-era law, the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the U.S. armed forces from engaging in domestic law enforcement. He has also directed the State Department to designate various cartels and criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (known as MS-13) and several other groups which the department say constitute a 'national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.' The use of American troops or naval forces against cartels or their members — persons who are civilians — could raise thorny legal issues because of previous legal opinions from the Justice Department which suggest that killing civilian outside of an armed conflict authorized by Congress could be considered to be murder. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly justified the secret directive in a statement to the Times in which she said Trump's 'top priority is protecting the homeland.' It's not unheard of for military resources to be used to assist civilian law enforcement, such as when U.S. Navy vessels have intercepted suspected drug smugglers while operating under supervision of the Coast Guard. But the use of the military in direct actions against cartels would be a significant departure from past practice. A previous use of the military in law enforcement overseas came in 1989, when then-president George H.W. Bush used active duty troops to invade Panama to arrest dictator Manuel Noriega, who'd been indicted on drug trafficking charges in an American court. At the time, the U.N. General Assembly slammed the move as a 'flagrant violation of international law' even though the Department of Justice had said it was within Bush's authority to use troops to arrest a foreign fugitive overseas. It's possible that Trump may try a similar gambit against another Latin American leader, the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. On Thursday, the Department of Justice and the State Department said they were offering a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, who like Noriega has been indicted for drug trafficking by federal prosecutors. At a press conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro 'will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.'
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Superman star Dean Cain joins ICE and fronts recruitment campaign for Trump's deportation drive
Cain, who rose to fame in the 1990s as Clark Kent in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, in which he starred alongside Teri Hatcher, said he wanted 'to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it,' adding, 'I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, so I joined up.' In the video, set to the iconic Superman theme, Cain promotes ICE's benefits including a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment, and enhanced retirement. He claimed the agency has arrested 'hundreds of thousands of criminals, including terrorists, rapists, murderers, paedophiles, MS 13 gang members, drug traffickers – you name it.' Cain, born Dean George Tanaka and of Japanese descent, told viewers that ICE was 'helping save America and removing the worst of the worst from America's streets.' He encouraged people to join if it 'tickled your fancy,' captioning the post, 'Join ICE! We need you to help protect US.' Online reaction was swift. One user wrote, 'Until I saw this, I was such a fan,' while another commented, 'Shame on you Dean, that's the most un-Superman thing you could possibly advocate.' A third added, 'This is incredibly ironic coming from a direct descendant of Japanese immigrants.' Appearing on Fox News, Cain defended the video, saying, 'America was built on patriots stepping up, whether it was popular or not,' and added, 'This is what people voted for. It's what I voted for.' ICE has faced increasing criticism over mass raids, with recent reports confirming arrests of undocumented immigrants, legal residents, and even US citizens. The agency received an additional $75 billion under Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill.' Cain's campaign follows a similar controversy involving South Park, after the US Department of Homeland Security used an image from the show in an ICE recruitment post. The long-running animated series show's official account reshared the post on X, formerly Twitter, along with the caption, 'Wait, so we ARE relevant?' and the hashtag #eatabagofd***s.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
A Prosecutor Took on MS-13 and Violent Crime. Trump Fired Her Anyway.
It was early March and a Newark police detective had just been shot. Desiree Leigh Grace, then the criminal division chief at the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey, went straight to the hospital. She spent the night there, sitting on the floor outside the detective's room, figuring out how to charge the suspect, a 14-year-old, with a federal crime. That evening, Ms. Grace found suitable statutes and had her case theory approved by higher-ups in the Justice Department, according to two law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. They said few other prosecutors could have done the same in such a short amount of time. By pursuing the teenager in federal court, Ms. Grace could aim for a penalty far more severe than he would have faced at the state level. But she would not have the chance to oversee the case. Last month, she was abruptly fired, a casualty of the struggle between a White House intent on keeping a loyalist, Alina Habba, in charge of the U.S. attorney's office and a panel of federal judges who had appointed Ms. Grace to take her place. From afar, Ms. Grace's career would seem to resemble the Trump Justice Department's prosecutorial ideal. Her time working as a leader in the New Jersey office has coincided with a sharp drop in shootings in the state, and Ms. Grace spent much of her time prosecuting members of violent gangs, including MS-13. Ms. Habba, by contrast, had no criminal experience before she was appointed interim U.S. attorney this year. She had previously served as a personal lawyer to President Trump. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
France 24
4 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
ICE agents stage 'Trojan Horse' raid in Los Angeles despite court ban
Immigration enforcement agents on Wednesday grabbed more than a dozen people outside a Los Angeles Home Depot in a "Trojan Horse" raid, despite a court ordering them to stop using roving patrols that rights groups say amount to racial profiling. The raid, in which agents sprang from the back of a rented moving truck, was filmed by embedded journalists from Fox News. Footage showed agents – including one wearing a white cowboy hat – jumping out of the truck and racing towards a group that appeared to be largely Latino. Gregory Bovino, Commander of Operations for the US Border Patrol in California, re-tweeted the clip, adding the title "Operation Trojan Horse", a reference to the large wooden horse used in Greek mythology to take the city of Troy by surprise. "For those who thought Immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again," acting US Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X after the raid. "The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government." Fox News said a total of 16 people were ultimately taken into custody, with many of them being placed in the rear of the same van. The outlet cited Department of Homeland Security officials saying the MS-13 gang has a "chokehold" on the area. Day labourers frequently gather in and around the parking lots of hardware stores in the hope of picking up casual work. One man who was there told the Los Angeles Times the raid had unfolded before 7am (1400 GMT) when a truck that appeared to have been rented from vehicle company Penske pulled up in the parking lot. A Spanish-speaking driver said he was looking for workers before masked agents jumped out of the back, sending people running. "This is the worst feeling ever," the man told the paper. 'Serious concerns' A spokesman for Penske said the company had been taken by surprise by the footage of the raid. "Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances," the spokesman said. "The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today's operation and did not authorise this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future." Wednesday's raid was one of the most high-profile operations in Los Angeles since a federal court in July ordered a halt to the "roving patrols" carried out by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as part of President Donald Trump 's plan to deport thousands of undocumented migrants. A three-judge panel last week denied a government appeal to overturn the order, after rights groups argued that the raids appeared to be arresting people largely based on their race. The American Civil Liberties Union said "the evidence available so far" surrounding Wednesday's raid "raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation" of the order. "Per that order, federal agents are prohibited from stopping and detaining people based solely on generalisations about how they look, how they speak, or where they are," said ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar, in a statement. ICE raids around Los Angeles in early June sparked two weeks of unrest in the city, which is home to millions of migrants. In response to the largely peaceful protests, Trump sent more than 4,700 troops to the city, despite objections from local politicians and law enforcement.
