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Dominican Republic seize cocaine from Venezuelan boat

admin - Latest News - September 23, 2025
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Dominican Republic seize cocaine from Venezuelan boat



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Trump to Address UNGA to Emphasize ‘America First Worldview’
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September 30, 2025
By Lawrence HurleyWASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday heavily criticized the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech as he ruled in favor of foreign students the government has targeted for their support of Palestinian rights.Massachusetts-based Judge William Young, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, ruled that foreign students enjoy the same free speech protections under the Constitution’s First Amendment as American citizens do.He found that government officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “deliberately and with purposeful aforethought, did so concert their actions and those of their two departments intentionally to chill the rights to freedom of speech and peacefully to assemble.”Touching upon tensions within the judiciary on how to respond to harsh criticism from the administration, Young included a threatening message he had received via a postcard from an anonymous critic that read, “Trump has pardons and tanks …. what do you have?”Young responded in a note at the top of his ruling, saying he had “nothing but my sense of duty.”The 161-page decision included a final 13-page section that served as a damning indictment of President Donald Trump’s second term in office so far, portraying him as a vainglorious bully who is enacting an agenda based on retribution.Young cited Trump’s orders that targeted law firms, universities and the media, which have fared badly in court, as examples.”The Constitution, our civil laws, regulations, mores, customs, practices, courtesies — all of it; the President simply ignores it all when he takes it into his head to act,” Young wrote.”The president’s palpable misunderstanding that the government simply cannot seek retribution for speech he disdains poses a great threat to Americans’ freedom of speech,” he added.U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston.U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts / ReutersThe lawsuit — brought by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association — alleged that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment by creating an ideological deportation policy to remove non-citizen campus activists for expressing pro-Palestinian sentiments.During the trial, Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that a majority of the names of student protesters flagged to the agency for potential deportation came from Canary Mission, a website run by an anonymous group that maintains a database of students, professors and others who, it claims, shared anti-Israel and antisemitic viewpoints.High-profile examples include the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, who was involved in protests at Columbia University, and Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk.Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute, which represents the challengers, said in a statement the ruling should have an immediate impact on the Trump administration’s policies.”If the First Amendment means anything, it means the government can’t imprison people simply because it disagrees with their political views,” he added.The foreign students’ case is not the first occasion on which Young has been involved in a high-profile dispute involving the Trump administration.He previously blocked a Trump administration effort to cut teacher training grants, a decision that the Supreme Court overturned.Young subsequently issued a similar decision against the administration over its planned cuts to health research grants. This too was blocked by the Supreme Court, prompting conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to accuse Young of defying the justices.In response, Young said in a later court hearing he had no intention to disobey the Supreme Court.Lawrence HurleyLawrence Hurley is a senior Supreme Court reporter for NBC News. Chloe Atkins and Tyler Kingkade contributed.
October 4, 2025
Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 3, 2025, 11:45 PM EDTBy Didi Martinez, Laura Strickler and Julia AinsleyThe federal government is offering unaccompanied migrant children 14 and older $2,500 to leave the United States of their own volition, or “self-deport” back to their countries, according to a memo sent by the Department of Health and Human Services and obtained by NBC News.The notice was sent Friday afternoon to legal service providers around the country that represent unaccompanied migrant children. Eligible children are those who are from countries other than Mexico and who are currently in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is part of HHS.“This benefit is intended to support reintegration efforts following departures,” the notice reads. The notice also says that the Department of Homeland Security, which is issuing the stipends, has already identified unaccompanied children in ORR custody who have said they want to file or who will file “for voluntary departure.”Health and Human Services referred all queries to the Department of Homeland Security. The effort to entice minors to self-deport emerged as a rumor on social media Thursday night among immigrant advocates who said they had heard Immigration and Customs Enforcement was labeling the operation “Freaky Friday.” ICE said the name was a made up “ridiculous term” but conceded the agency was offering money to unaccompanied minor children to self deport.Emily Covington, the assistant director of ICE’s Office of Public Affairs, said in a statement that the offer from the federal government was a “strictly voluntary option to return home to their families.”Covington said that the option gives unaccompanied children “a choice and allows them to make an informed decision about their future. Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin.”The move alarmed immigration advocates around the country.Wendy Young with Kids in Need of Defense said in a statement, “Unaccompanied children should never be removed from the United States without a full and fair process to determine if they are eligible for U.S. protection.”“This operation undermines laws that guarantee that process for unaccompanied children, and it runs counter to our nation’s longstanding commitment to protect the most vulnerable among us — children — from violence, trafficking, abuse, persecution, and other grave dangers,” she continued.Roxana Cortés-Mills, who runs the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement in Nebraska, said regardless of the offer, the rumors about it had sowed fear among immigrant communities. She said a rural school district in the state called her office asking, “should we tell parents to pull their kids from school?” She added, “This is the first time in my nine years of working with unaccompanied children that I am hearing this type of offer.” In Houston, Dalia Castillo-Granados, director of Children’s Immigration Law Academy, said offering money to children “raises many concerns given the vulnerable position these children are in.”The Trump administration offer comes amid an overall push to get undocumented immigrants to self-deport, offering adults and their families $1,000 to leave the country under a separate program. Over Labor Day weekend, the administration also tried to deport several unaccompanied children back to their home country of Guatemala but was temporarily blocked from doing so following court proceedings as DHS was loading the children on planes.“We are seeing a lot of patterns and receiving a lot of reports that ICE is using a lot of pressure tactics to encourage people to take deportation. It’s bad enough to use these tactics on adults to encourage them to self deport but it’s a whole new level of concern to try to use it with children,” Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said about Friday’s news. More than 300,000 children entered the U.S. by themselves during the Biden administration before being released to parents, relatives or non-family sponsors across the country. As of August, the federal government had 2,011 unaccompanied minor children in its custody, according to the HHS website. Typically, children who cross the border without a legal parent or guardian are transferred temporarily to HHS custody until they can be matched with a U.S.-based sponsor. Children who immigrate to the United States without parents have special protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, unless they are from Mexico or Canada. The Trump administration has sought to thwart those special protections and recently attempted to deport Guatemalan children who were still in the process of seeking asylum. Though they have special protections to ensure they are screened for possible trafficking, unaccompanied children who crossed the border illegally have been previously deported, including under Democratic administrations. But incentivizing children to leave through financial plans has never been done before.Under the Biden administration, unaccompanied minors crossing the border surged to record numbers in 2021, causing backlogs at Health and Human Services as the agency struggled to place them with appropriate sponsors. The Trump administration has said many of those children were placed in unsafe environments where they could be abused or exploited for labor. Didi MartinezDidi Martinez is a producer for NBC News’ national security unit.Laura StricklerLaura Strickler is the senior investigative producer on the national security team where she produces television stories and writes for NBCNews.com.Julia AinsleyI am NBC News’ Senior Homeland Security Correspondent.
October 3, 2025
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October 11, 2025
Oct. 11, 2025, 8:00 AM EDTBy Alicia Victoria LozanoPORTLAND, Ore. — A small group of federal agents in camouflage and face masks watched from atop the immigration processing center Thursday night as a unicorn, peacock, dinosaur and raccoon danced to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Across the street, the self-proclaimed frog brigade — three adults in inflatable amphibian costumes — posed for photos and bounced around in unison. A small group of counterprotesters nearby shouted, “We love you, ICE!”Similar scenes outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building south of downtown Portland have been playing out for weeks as people protest President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts and the deployment of more than 200 National Guard troops to Oregon’s largest city to protect federal property.The absurdity of adults dancing in inflatable costumes during anti-ICE demonstrations is meant to display community joy, protesters say, and helps to dispel the Trump administration’s narrative that Portland is a crime-ridden “war zone,” a characterization local and state leaders say is false.Plus, the costumes provide protection from gas and other toxins deployed by federal agents, protesters say.“If you’re going to make it silly and say that we’re evil, we’re going to make it silly by showing how evil you are,” said Brooks Brown, of Vancouver, Washington, who passed out 30 inflatable costumes Thursday night to anyone who wanted to get it on “Operation Inflation.”A protester in a frog costume in front of federal officers Monday outside the ICE building in Portland.Stephen Lam / San Francisco Chronicle / Getty ImagesNot without its civic challenges, the greater Portland area has some 7,000 homeless residents, and simple assaults have increased 8% from the time last year, but homicides have dropped 50% and aggravated assaults 4% in the same period, according to police and city data, and overall crime has held steady.Protester Jack Dickinson, known locally as the Chicken Man, first donned his chicken costume in June during Trump’s military parade in Washington. He said he wanted to counter the show of force with farce.As immigration raids accelerated across the country and the administration appeared to fixate on Portland’s protests, the chicken costume took on new meaning, he said.“This is an unacceptable betrayal of the American democracy,” Dickinson said, referring to federalized forces deployed in Democratic-led cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. “ICE is kind of the perfect example of the cruelty with which they are implementing their agenda, and it’s just not something we can sit by and let happen.”The costume strategy appears to be working. Demonstrators have attracted attention from international media outlets in France, Australia and England.California Gov. Gavin Newson, a Democrat and a frequent target of Trump’s verbal and online jabs, seized on the movement to mock the administration on social media.“Portland is war ravaged! SEND IN THE CALIFORNIA (???) NATIONAL GUARD!” he posted this week on X with a video of a unicorn, raccoon and dinosaur dancing outside the immigration building.Despite the costumed antics, the Trump administration stuck to its depiction of the protesters on Thursday during a federal appeals court hearing challenging a judge’s order barring the Guard from being sent to Portland. The panel has not made a decision yet.Department of Justice attorney Eric McArthur called protesters “violent people” who hurled rocks at federal agents, lit fires on the street and blocked cars.“The president is entitled to say enough is enough and bring in the National Guard to reinforce the regular forces,” he added.Federal officials pointed to the three-week closing of the ICE building from mid-June to early July because of damage to windows, security cameras and other parts of the building, allegedly caused by protesters.Protesters have blamed the ongoing federal presence for civil unrest, saying the toxins being used against them are causing health concerns in the residential neighborhood.Speaking before a panel of federal judges Thursday, Senior Assistant Oregon Attorney General Stacy Chaffin said the administration’s portrayal of Portland was “untethered from reality.”Protests in Portland outside the ICE facility on Thursday.Alicia Lozano / NBC NewsAs lingering toxins from tear gas lobbed by federal officers caused people to clear their throats and wipe their stinging eyes Thursday night outside the ICE building, protesters said they were skeptical the Trump administration would follow a court order that was not in its favor.Brown and other demonstrators pulled a cart filled with 30 inflatable costumes and began passing them out to protesters, turning the gathering into a kind of night circus as a raccoon, polar bear and axolotl bounded toward the ICE building.Brown said he created an Operation Inflation website in one night this week after seeing federal police confront protester Seth Todd, otherwise known as “Toad” because of the costume he wears. Brown said he immediately began selling inflatable costumes from the site, adding that the operation is not funded or backed by any outside organization.Brown said he grew up learning about the deadly Kent State shooting in 1970, when four unarmed students were killed and another nine wounded by members of the Ohio National Guard. Operation Inflation is his attempt to de-escalate tensions between protesters and federal officers.Protests in Portland outside the ICE facility on Oct. 9.Alicia Lozano / NBC News“People should be able to protest. They should have their voices heard,” he said between coughs from the tainted air.Dressed as Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh,” Portland resident Joy Wilson marveled at the masked agents staring down at her. She said she usually reads a book during demonstrations to highlight the peace and calm of Portland’s resistance movement, and Thursday night marked her first time attending a protest in costume.But after witnessing federal agents pepper spray Todd in the respiratory hole of his inflatable suit on Oct. 4 in an act that was caught on video and posted to social media, Wilson said she decided to show solidarity because the frog has become a symbol of nonviolent protest.“People sometimes wonder, ‘What can I do’” to protest, Wilson said. “This makes it so accessible.”Wilson’s husband, Kevin, who was wearing regular clothes, stood nearby, carefully picking out more costumes to order online for demonstrators. Their teenage daughter and her friends passed out pizza slices to the demonstrators.“Should I go with the unicorn?” he mused before selecting a range of animals, including a lobster, a shark and a bear.“I already ordered a squirrel,” Wilson confessed with a grin.Alicia Victoria LozanoAlicia Victoria Lozano is a California-based reporter for NBC News focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws.
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