united states Archives

Judge hears lawsuit over Trump’s order to cancel birthright citizenship

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

A federal judge in Seattle will hear first arguments Thursday in a lawsuit filed by several states seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of parents’ immigration status. Federal Judge John Coughenour scheduled the session to consider the request from Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. The case is one of five lawsuits brought by 22 states and several immigrant advocacy groups across the country. The lawsuits include personal testimony from prosecutors who are U.S. citizens by birthright, and names of pregnant women who fear their children will not become U.S. citizens. The order signed by Trump on the day of his inauguration is scheduled to go into effect on February 19. It could affect thousands of people born in the country, according to one of the lawsuits. In 2022, there were approximately 255,000 births of citizen children to mothers living in the country illegally and approximately 153,000 births to both parents in such a situation, according to the lawsuit filed by the four states in Seattle. The United States is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship, the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil,” applies. Most are in the American Continent, including Canada and Mexico. The lawsuits argue that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship to people born and naturalized in the country and states have interpreted the amendment that way for a century. Ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, the amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside.” Trump’s order affirms that children of non-Americans are not subject to US jurisdiction and directs federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for children who do not have at least one parent who is a citizen. A key case on the issue unfolded in 1898. The Supreme Court held that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the country. After a trip abroad, he faced denial of reentry by the federal government on the grounds that he was not a citizen under the Chinese Exclusion Act. But some advocates of immigration restrictions have argued that that case clearly applied to children born to parents who were both legal immigrants. They say it is less clear whether it applies to children born to parents who do not have a residence permit. Trump’s executive order prompted attorneys general to share their personal connections to birthright citizenship. For example, Connecticut state Attorney General William Tong, a birthright U.S. citizen and the nation’s first elected Chinese American attorney general, said the lawsuit was personal to him. “There is no legitimate legal debate on this issue. But the fact that Trump is completely wrong will not stop him from causing serious harm right now to American families like mine,” Tong said this week. One of the lawsuits includes the case of a pregnant woman, identified as “Carmen,” who is not a citizen, but has lived in the United States for more than 15 years and has a pending visa application that could give her permanent residency status. “Depriving children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a serious injury,” the lawsuit says. “It denies them the full membership in American society to which they are entitled.”

Trump’s deportation campaign begins: day laborers arrested at work arrive in Mexico

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

TIJUANA, Mexico . — Mexican day laborers detained while working began to be deported to Mexico while at various points on the border with the United States the construction of new spaces to house migrants and face the mass deportations announced by Donald Trump was accelerated. About 70 deportees in what could be some of the first raids of the new U.S. administration arrived in Tijuana in small groups over about three hours Tuesday night, some dressed in work clothes carrying orange bags with their belongings. Migrants who were deported from the United States to Mexico wave as they are transported to a shelter as they cross the El Chaparral pedestrian border bridge in Tijuana, Mexico, on the evening of Tuesday, January 21, 2025. (Felix Marquez/AP) As a man shouted from a distance to a small group of journalists, they were detained on Tuesday while they were working as day laborers in Denver, Colorado. Another migrant said he had been arrested in Oregon without giving further details. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that there were returns the day before and, without specifying, indicated that the numbers were lower than usual. In 2024, according to official data, more than 500 Mexicans were deported daily on average along the entire border. This month, through one point alone, Nogales, on the border with Arizona, about 150 were deported daily, according to data from the Kino Initiative shelters. On an empty lot next to the border in Ciudad Juárez, next to El Paso, workers used cranes to erect large metal structures that would later become shelters. In Nogales, sports centers were set up to serve migrants. In Matamoros, spaces were expanded in shelters already operating and to the south of Piedras Negras the authorities announced that they wanted to enable empty industrial warehouses for the same purpose. Sheinbaum said Wednesday that the nine federal centers located in municipalities adjacent to the 11 official people repatriation points would be ready in three or four days. The president emphasized that formal conversations with the new US administration have also begun with a call between Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday. “It was a very good conversation, very cordial, they talked about migration issues, security issues,” Sheinbaum said without giving more details. In addition to the nine new centers, the federal government plans to use some existing ones in Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and Matamoros where, as explained by Ariadna Montiel, Secretary of Welfare, foreigners who had an appointment to request asylum in the United States but who were canceled when Trump paralyzed the CBPOne virtual application. However, Sheinbaum has insisted that Mexico’s objective with foreigners, both those who were waiting for an appointment and those who are returned due to the reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” program – which returns asylum seekers while they wait for their hearing in court Americans—is to first give them humanitarian care and then return them to their countries voluntarily.

US House approves immigration detention law that could be the first that Trump enacts

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detention of migrants who are in the country without permission and who have been accused of theft and violent crimes, the first measure that President Donald Trump can enact it, after Congress—with some bipartisan support—moved quickly in line with the president’s plans to toughen measures against illegal immigration. The passage of the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan, shows how dramatically the political debate over immigration has shifted to the right following Trump’s election victory. . Immigration policy has often been one of the most entrenched issues in Congress, but a crucial group of 46 politically vulnerable Democrats joined Republicans to pass the strict proposal by a vote count of 263 in favor and 156 against. . “For decades, it has been nearly impossible for our government to agree on solutions to problems at our border and within our country,” said Republican Senator Katie Britt. He noted that it is likely to be the “most significant immigration bill” that Congress has passed in nearly three decades. However, the bill will require a massive increase in the capabilities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but does not include any new funding. Meanwhile, the new president has issued a series of executive orders aimed at sealing the border with Mexico to immigration and ultimately deporting millions of migrants who lack permanent legal status in the United States. On Wednesday, Trump also canceled refugee resettlement and his administration has said it intends to prosecute local law enforcement officials who do not comply with his new immigration policies. Republican congressional leaders have made clear that they intend to follow the same path, although their biggest challenge will be finding a way to approve funding to actually implement Trump’s strict plans. “What he’s doing is starting what will ultimately be our legislative agenda,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. House Republicans initially passed the legislation last year with the support of 37 Democrats in a move intended as a political rebuke to then-President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern border. He then languished in the Democratic-controlled Senate. This year, Republicans, now in control of both houses of Congress, have made this their top priority. When it came before the Senate, 12 Democrats voted in favor of the measure, and when the House voted on a version of the bill earlier this month, 48 Democrats supported it. A majority of adults in the United States favor deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, according to a recent poll by the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and The Associated Press. However, only about 37% of U.S. adults favor deporting migrants in the country illegally who have not been convicted of a crime. “While the bill is not perfect, it sends a clear message that we think criminals should be deported,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat who has urged his party to support stricter enforcement of the law. immigration law. Under the bill, federal authorities would be required to detain any migrant arrested or charged with crimes such as shoplifting. The scope of the proposal was expanded in the Senate to also include those accused of assaulting a police officer or crimes that injure or cause the death of someone. The bill also gives state attorneys general standing to sue the federal government for damages caused by federal immigration decisions. This gives states new power in immigration policy when they have already been trying to counter presidential decisions under the Trump and Biden administrations. Democrats unsuccessfully tried to have that provision removed from the bill in the Senate, saying it would inject even more uncertainty and partisanship into immigration policy. Ultimately, even the Trump administration will likely struggle to implement the new requirements unless Congress follows up later this year with funding. Republicans are currently planning how to push their priorities through Congress through a party-line process known as budget reconciliation. They have estimated the cost of funding Trump’s border and deportation priorities at approximately $100 billion. Trump has “established the largest domestic logistics undertaking of our lifetimes, which is the deportation of the majority of aliens who are in the United States illegally,” said Ken Cuccinelli, who led U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump’s first term, to a Senate panel recently. Cuccinelli noted that it would require an increase in immigration judges, prosecutors and other staff, but Trump has also paved the way for using military assets, bases and other resources to carry out mass deportations. The Department of Homeland Security has estimated that the Laken Riley Act would cost $26.9 billion in the first year to implement, including an increase of 110,000 ICE detention beds. Most Democrats criticized the lack of funding in the bill as evidence that it is a piecemeal approach that would do little to fix problems in the immigration system but would burden federal authorities with new requirements. “The authors of the bill stated that it would result in the arrest and detention of dangerous criminals, but it will not because it is a completely unfunded mandate,” said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. Others expressed concerns that the bill would deprive migrants, including minors or beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, of due process rights. Senator Alex Padilla said federal authorities would now be forced to prioritize detaining migrants arrested for minor crimes such as shoplifting, rather than those who commit serious crimes. Overall, there is no evidence that migrants are more likely to commit violent crimes. Several studies have found that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than those born in the United States. Groups that advocate for restrictive immigration policies dispute or dismiss those findings. But Republicans pointed to the bill’s namesake, Laken Riley, and how she was murdered by a Venezuelan migrant who had previously been arrested by local authorities but released while his … Read more

Millionaires, tycoons and presidents: Guide to who was and where at Trump’s inauguration

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

The packed dais in the Capitol Rotunda on Inauguration Day featured four of the five richest men in the world, five U.S. presidents, technology and business magnates, and two foreign leaders in prime locations. Donald Trump’s inauguration was attended by traditional, unprecedented and unorthodox guests, from Supreme Court judges to the vice president of China and the director of TikTok, an application that the United States authorities have identified as a risk to national security, along with the person Trump has chosen to lead the intelligence community. There were also members of the president’s family and other familiar faces in Trump’s circle. Lawmakers mostly sat across from Trump, watching the new president take the oath of office. Here are who was on the stand and who they sat next to. 1. Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was sitting next to Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump has nominated to be director of national intelligence. Trump intervened this weekend in an attempt to stop a ban on TikTok, which is seen as a potential national security threat. The president has credited the social network with helping him win last year’s election, but the platform faces a ban if the China-based parent company does not find a buyer approved by Washington. 2. Joe Rogan, one of the world’s most popular podcasters, sat down for a three-hour interview with Trump in the final stretch of the campaign and ultimately endorsed him a day before the election. Trump has expressed his gratitude to him. 3. A group of billionaires and tech tycoons sat in the same row. They included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg; the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos; to the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai and the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world. They were seated behind Trump’s wife, Melania, and their children, but in front of several of his Cabinet nominees. Musk, who has grown closer to Trump since the election, sat closest to Trump. Bernard Arnault, CEO of French magnate LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods seller whose brands include Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, was on the opposite side of the stand. 4. Barron Trump is Trump’s youngest son. The president has acknowledged his contribution to the online campaign, saying it introduced him to internet personalities he had never met before. Barron Trump is now 18 and a freshman business student at New York University, but he will have a room in the White House. 5. Kai Trump, one of Trump’s granddaughters, is a social media influencer and avid golfer. Kai Trump is only 17 years old but has grown in popularity over the past year, taking the stage at the Republican National Convention and speaking briefly at a rally over the weekend. She is the daughter of Donald Trump Jr., who has helped her father with some of his elections and is seen as an enforcer of loyalty in his circle. 6. Miriam Adelson and John Paulson were among the Trump campaign’s biggest donors and got prime seats at the ceremony alongside the next White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Paulson, a billionaire investor, hosted a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, that set a record for a single event, adding $50.5 million to the campaign last April. Adelson is co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. She is a major Trump supporter and, along with Zuckerberg, hosted another inaugural event on Monday. 7. Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and outgoing President Joe Biden also received prime seats. All of his wives, except former first lady Michelle Obama, were also sitting there. Michelle Obama had previously announced that she would skip the swearing-in ceremony. He didn’t give a reason. 8. In an unprecedented move, Trump invited foreign leaders to the inauguration, and they, too, got coveted seats at the ceremony. The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, was sitting next to the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. There was also China’s vice president, Han Zheng, whom President Xi Jinping sent to represent him. China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, was also nearby.

The White House disdains Spanish, others elevate it to promote Latin American art

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

LOS ANGELES — The use of Spanish is considered an act of rebellion and resistance in the United States. Now, more than ever, the language of Juan Rulfo, Gabriel García Márquez and Julio Cortázar will be a dissonant element, a language that the spouses Ivonne Guzman and Jorge Espinosa They have decided to elevate their venture that promotes art through books and records. On his first day as president, a few hours after his inauguration, Donald Trump closed the website and social networks in Spanish from the White House. However, these entrepreneurs use their digital platform, called The thinking junkto celebrate the literature and music produced in Spanish, betting on a reunion—in some—and discovery—in others—of the delight caused by art in this fertile language. “In general it is about dignifying, showing the joy and beauty of this language,” commented Ivonne. On the digital platform, Los trastos depensa, these entrepreneurs offer alternative music and literature in the United States. (Soudi Jiménez / Los Angeles Times en Español) This Ecuadorian couple launched on April 23, 2023, within the framework of the Book Dayits platform that now has a presence on Facebook and instagram. In part, this digital initiative responds to their personal tastes, but along the way they have realized that there are more Latin people with the same preferences in literature and music. The idea of creating this website arose during the times of the pandemic, as a result of that unsatisfied need that they have been dealing with since they both settled in the United States. Jorge arrived with residency in 2011, while Ivonne did so in 2018 when she assumed her position as Consul General of Ecuador in Los Angeles. “We didn’t find a lot of things that are easily accessible in other countries,” said Jorge. If they wanted to acquire a book by the Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz, the Ecuadorian Mónica Ojeda, or the Spanish Irene Vallejo, they had to buy it on a trip they took to Quito, the Ecuadorian capital; or ask for any friendship that could bring them from their homeland. The same thing happened to them if they wanted to buy an Argentine rock album, or a Brazilian or Chilean artist. “There weren’t any, it was impossible to get them, it was like they didn’t exist,” he added. In their own words, they do not consider themselves experts; However, academic training and experience gives them knowledge and authority to speak about what they are doing. Ecuadorian journalist Ivonne Guzmán shows some of the books that were put on sale at the LéaLA book fair, held in September 2024 in Los Angeles. (Soudi Jiménez / Los Angeles Times en Español) For the last 31 years, Ivonne has practiced cultural journalism in her native country. She has been a reporter, editor and columnist at the newspaper The Commerce. He also has a master’s degree in research in history and is author of the book Social painting. Three women in the art world of the 1930samong other professional achievements. On the other hand, Jorge is a musician and has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis in painting and printmaking, as well as a master’s degree in education and is currently pursuing another master’s degree in sound art. To launch this venture, in 2022 they did a market study, they visited record stores and bookstores in Southern California, they talked to different people, they asked them where they got their books and music. By receiving a grant they applied for, they enabled the platform that sells new and used books, as well as compact discs and vinyl records. “This is a bit of facing what is there and seeing what works; We got records from Mercedes Sosa, Julio Jaramillo and Astor Piazzolla, as well as Aterciopelados from Colombia and Caifanes from Mexico. We emphasize artists from Ecuador, taking into account those who are outside the city of Quito,” Jorge explained. Among the books they have for sale on their portal are those by Ecuadorian María Fernanda Ampuero and Daniela Alcívar Bellolio, Argentine Leila Guerriero and Colombian Pilar Quintana, among other authors. (Soudi Jiménez / Los Angeles Times en Español) In literature, the bet is to have books like those written by the Ecuadorian María Fernanda Ampuero and Daniela Alcívar Bellolio, the Argentine Leila Guerriero and the Colombian Pilar Quintana, to name a few examples. They are also interested in offering copies of graphic novels, essays, novels and short stories by prestigious authors. Along these same lines, the public can suggest a book or an album; If the person is patient, these entrepreneurs can get it and send it to any city in the United States. At this time, delivery takes time because only the two of them select and renew their catalog. They themselves take the orders to the postal service. “The nice thing is that we are bringing more indie, newer, smaller publishers; We have things that you can’t get easily and that Amazon doesn’t have either, that’s the difference,” Ivonne highlighted. These publishers are Ecuadorian, Spanish, Colombian and Argentine, which publish many of these books by unknown authors in the United States, but with wide recognition in Spain and Latin America. Jorge Espinosa shows a book about the Argentine musician Fito Páez. (Soudi Jiménez / Los Angeles Times en Español) Despite the position recently adopted by the White House, Spanish is moving forward at a steady pace. Currently more than 600 million people speak this language in the world. In the United States, 67.6% of the 63.7 million Latinos use Spanish at home, that is, more than 43 million people, according to the 2024 report from the Cervantes Institute. This interest in this language was noticeable at the last LéaLA book fair in Spanish, held in September 2024. These entrepreneurs sold almost half of their catalog, there they found many learners of Spanish and people who are competent or who are native speakers who seek alternative literature and music. For this reason … Read more

Winter storm spreads across southern US with ice and snow

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

NEW ORLEANS— A massive storm of snow, sleet and freezing rain hit the southern United States on Wednesday, setting new records for snowfall and exposing the region to unaccustomed winter joys and dangers. From Texas and extending south to Florida and the North Carolina coast, snow and sleet caused ice accumulation in cities New Orleans, Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida. In Alabama, the weight of the snow caused the dome of the Mobile Civic Center to collapse, which is scheduled for demolition to make way for a new arena for sporting events. At least eight deaths were attributed to the storm as temperatures settled below freezing with even colder wind chills. The arctic air also turned much of the north-central and eastern parts of the country into a freezer, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled. Government offices remained closed, as did classrooms for more than a million students who are more accustomed to hurricane evacuations than snow days. New Englanders know what to do on days like these: Terry Fraser of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, didn’t have his windshield snow removal tool with him when he went out to visit his granddaughter in Brunswick, Georgia, so he used the card from a discount store to remove snow and ice from his rental van in a frozen hotel parking lot. “This is what we do up north when you don’t have a scraper,” Fraser said. “Hey, it works.” In Tallahassee, Florida, the Holmes family set their alarms for the early hours of Wednesday and headed out in search of a snow-covered slope before it melted. Layla, 9, and Rawley, 12, used what they had: their surfboards. “You have to be creative in Florida!” said mom, Alicia Holmes. Anchorage wants its snow backThe record 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snowfall in New Orleans more than doubled the snowfall Anchorage, Alaska, has received since early December, the National Weather Service said. “We would like our snow back,” the weather service office in Anchorage joked in a post on the social network X. “Or at least some King Cake in return.” Anchorage was also warmer Wednesday morning than New Orleans, Atlanta, Jacksonville or Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the weather service. Dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills are forecast to persist in the southern region of the country on Thursday morning, with widespread frost in some places through the weekend, the weather service said. The thermometer is expected to return above freezing on Thursday in places such as New Orleans, and by Friday in Tallahassee and the coast of the Carolinas. Interstate highway closures Snow and ice also forced road closures, including a several-mile stretch of Interstate 10. Causeways and bridges crossing the Louisiana marshes were particularly prone to frost. “Louisiana, if you can, just hang in there,” Gov. Jeff Landry said, warning that Tuesday’s “magical” snow day would turn dangerous Wednesday as conditions worsened. In Charleston, South Carolina, it took crews nearly 16 hours to reopen traffic along the massive 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) Ravenel Bridge, which carries about 100,000 vehicles a day. Icy conditions plagued drivers in Georgia, where authorities responded to more than 1,000 calls for help. Who needs a beach when there’s snow?Some people took advantage of the Ravenel Bridge’s steep overpasses and turned them into makeshift sledding tracks. On the Outer Banks, children slid down snow-covered sand dunes near where the Wright Brothers made their first flight, while adults attempted to navigate waist-deep drifts of snow at Kitty’s Pier. Hawk. One ferry system suspended service between the barrier islands. “Maybe every 10 years we get a good snowfall like this,” said Ryan Thibodeau, 38, co-owner of Carolina Designs Realty, a vacation rental company. The storm that triggered the first blizzard warnings for some locations along the Texas and Louisiana coast also blanketed the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Pensacola Beach, Florida. Snow covering the South Carolina sand from Hilton Head to Myrtle Beach created more opportunities to convert surf gear into sleds. “It didn’t have the speed of a sled,” Alex Spiotta said as his family rode a boogie board on the Isle of Palms, South Carolina. “But in the south, you have to use whatever you have.” Other things that were used as sleds were: a laundry basket in Montgomery, Alabama; a pool tube in Houston; and kayaks, cardboard boxes and alligator inflatables on the Mississippi River levees in Louisiana. A vehicle was dragging a skier down a street in Pensacola, Florida. In Metairie, Louisiana, several nuns were having fun throwing snowballs at a priest. Flight cancellations and fatalitiesNearly 2,000 flights were canceled in the United States and another 2,300 were postponed as of midday Wednesday, according to the website FlightAware.com. The unprecedented demand for electricity to stay warm was met by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides power to more than 10 million customers in seven states, and PJM Interconnection, which operates the 13-state grid. But more than 100,000 families were without power in the Mid-Atlantic region Wednesday morning, according to the website PowerOutage.us. The Texas Department of Safety and Security reported that five people were killed early Tuesday when a tractor-trailer crashed into other vehicles on an icy highway southwest of San Antonio. Two people died from the cold in Austin, Texas, where emergency crews responded to more than a dozen reports of “cold exposure.” In Georgia, authorities said one person died of hypothermia. And yet the planet is warmingIn Southern California, where fires have killed at least 28 people and consumed thousands of homes, Santa Ana winds and arid conditions worsened by climate change continued to raise concerns. Although the United States, which covers approximately 2% of the planet’s land surface, experiences unusually low temperatures, the planet as a whole sets heat records. So far in 2025, the first 20 hottest days of a year on record have been experienced, according to the European climate service Copernicus, leaving last year’s mark behind, according to the data, which goes back to 1940. So far this year, U.S. … Read more

US House approves immigration detention law that could be the first that Trump enacts

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

WASHINGTON— The US House of Representatives on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detention of migrants who are in the country without permission and who have been accused of theft and violent crimes, the first measure that President Donald Trump can enact it, after Congress—with some bipartisan support—moved quickly in line with the president’s plans to toughen measures against illegal immigration. The passage of the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan, shows how dramatically the political debate over immigration has shifted to the right following Trump’s election victory. . Immigration policy has often been one of the most entrenched issues in Congress, but a crucial group of 46 politically vulnerable Democrats joined Republicans to pass the strict proposal by a vote count of 263 in favor and 156 against. . “For decades, it has been nearly impossible for our government to agree on solutions to problems at our border and within our country,” said Republican Senator Katie Britt. He noted that it is likely to be the “most significant immigration bill” that Congress has passed in nearly three decades. However, the bill will require a massive increase in the capabilities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but does not include any new funding. Meanwhile, the new president has issued a series of executive orders aimed at sealing the border with Mexico to immigration and ultimately deporting millions of migrants who lack permanent legal status in the United States. On Wednesday, Trump also canceled refugee resettlement and his administration has said it intends to prosecute local law enforcement officials who do not comply with his new immigration policies. Republican congressional leaders have made clear that they intend to follow the same path, although their biggest challenge will be finding a way to approve funding to actually implement Trump’s strict plans. “What he’s doing is starting what will ultimately be our legislative agenda,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. House Republicans initially passed the legislation last year with the support of 37 Democrats in a move intended as a political rebuke to then-President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern border. He then languished in the Democratic-controlled Senate. This year, Republicans, now in control of both houses of Congress, have made this their top priority. When it came before the Senate, 12 Democrats voted in favor of the measure, and when the House voted on a version of the bill earlier this month, 48 Democrats supported it. A majority of adults in the United States favor deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, according to a recent poll by the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and The Associated Press. However, only about 37% of U.S. adults favor deporting migrants in the country illegally who have not been convicted of a crime. “While the bill is not perfect, it sends a clear message that we think criminals should be deported,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat who has urged his party to support stricter enforcement of the law. immigration law. Under the bill, federal authorities would be required to detain any migrant arrested or charged with crimes such as shoplifting. The scope of the proposal was expanded in the Senate to also include those accused of assaulting a police officer or crimes that injure or cause the death of someone. The bill also gives state attorneys general standing to sue the federal government for damages caused by federal immigration decisions. This gives states new power in immigration policy when they have already been trying to counter presidential decisions under the Trump and Biden administrations. Democrats unsuccessfully tried to have that provision removed from the bill in the Senate, saying it would inject even more uncertainty and partisanship into immigration policy. Ultimately, even the Trump administration will likely struggle to implement the new requirements unless Congress follows up later this year with funding. Republicans are currently planning how to push their priorities through Congress through a party-line process known as budget reconciliation. They have estimated the cost of funding Trump’s border and deportation priorities at approximately $100 billion. Trump has “established the largest domestic logistics undertaking of our lifetimes, which is the deportation of the majority of aliens who are in the United States illegally,” said Ken Cuccinelli, who led U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Trump’s first term, to a Senate panel recently. Cuccinelli noted that it would require an increase in immigration judges, prosecutors and other staff, but Trump has also paved the way for using military assets, bases and other resources to carry out mass deportations. The Department of Homeland Security has estimated that the Laken Riley Act would cost $26.9 billion in the first year to implement, including an increase of 110,000 ICE detention beds. Most Democrats criticized the lack of funding in the bill as evidence that it is a piecemeal approach that would do little to fix problems in the immigration system but would burden federal authorities with new requirements. “The authors of the bill stated that it would result in the arrest and detention of dangerous criminals, but it will not because it is a completely unfunded mandate,” said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. Others expressed concerns that the bill would deprive migrants, including minors or beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, of due process rights. Senator Alex Padilla said federal authorities would now be forced to prioritize detaining migrants arrested for minor crimes such as shoplifting, rather than those who commit serious crimes. Overall, there is no evidence that migrants are more likely to commit violent crimes. Several studies have found that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than those born in the United States. Groups that advocate for restrictive immigration policies dispute or dismiss those findings. But Republicans pointed to the bill’s namesake, Laken Riley, and how she was murdered by a Venezuelan migrant who had previously been arrested by local authorities but released while … Read more

Wisconsin man accused of setting fire to lawmaker’s office over TikTok ban

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

MADISON, Wisconsin, USA — A Wisconsin man who allegedly told police he tried to set fire to a lawmaker’s office because he was upset with the federal ban on the social media platform TikTok was charged Wednesday with multiple counts, including one of arson. Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney filed a complaint against 19-year-old Caiden Stachowicz, charging him with felony arson, making terrorist threats, attempted robbery and criminal damage. property. If convicted of all charges, he would face a sentence of more than 50 years in prison. Stachowicz, a native of Menasha City, was scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday morning. Online court records indicated Judge Tricia Walker set cash bail for him at $500,000 and ordered him to have no contact with Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman or his staff. He was also prohibited from possessing any dangerous weapons or materials to start a fire. Records showed Stachowicz appeared via video call from jail. His lawyer could not be contacted at this time. According to the complaint, a police officer responded to a fire outside Grothman’s office in Fond du Lac around 1 a.m. Sunday and saw Stachowicz standing near the site. The officer said that while he was working to put out the flames with his fire extinguisher, Stachowicz told him he started the fire because he doesn’t like Grothman. The officer handcuffed Stachowicz and took him to the police department. Firefighters and police quickly extinguished the fire, limiting the damage. During an interview at the police department, Stachowicz told the officer that he bought gasoline and matches to start a fire in Grothman’s office, according to the complaint. He said he tried to get into the office so he could start the fire inside, but he couldn’t break the window. He then poured the gasoline into an electrical box at the back of the building and around the front of the building, lit a match and watched it burn, the complaint adds. He noted that he wanted to burn the building because the US government was shutting down TikTok and Grothman voted “in favor” of banning the social network, according to the complaint. Grothman voted in favor of a bill in April last year that forced TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operation by Sunday. Stachowicz said he believed the closure violated his constitutional rights. He added that he had participated in peaceful protests in the past, but no longer believes peace is an option, the complaint states. “Caiden said it was a government building and he wanted to cause a disruption and make a point by starting the fire in the building,” according to the complaint. “Caiden commented that he wished the entire building had burned down.” When asked if he expected people to be inside the building, he said no and that he didn’t want to hurt anyone, and he didn’t want to hurt Grothman either. TikTok went down in the US on Saturday afternoon, but the platform was back up and running hours later after then-President-elect Donald Trump said he would try to give ByteDance more time to find a buyer. Trump signed an executive order Monday after taking office instructing the U.S. attorney general not to implement the ban for 75 days. When asked to comment on the charges, Grothman spokeswoman Noelle Young responded by saying Grothman would call The Associated Press directly. However, the lawmaker had not contacted the AP as of Wednesday afternoon.

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