
This Washington border county is desperate for Canadians
Canadians frequently stop by Blaine, Washington, for gas, dairy and other staples that tend to be cheaper across the border. But the trade and diplomatic fight U.S. President Donald Trump has picked with America's northern neighbor is causing more Canadians to stay home.
Their boycotts have put business owners in Blaine and surrounding Whatcom County on edge, wondering how long the area's economy can survive with fewer visitors from British Columbia to fuel it.
'There's just no one around,' said Mike Hill, who runs a Chevron station in Blaine, population 6,200. Gasoline sales have dropped by 40% to 50% in the past few months, he said, and even the garbage cans by the pumps now rarely need emptying.
'It's crazy. Canadians are like our brothers and sisters with just that border between us,' Hill said.
Whatcom County has been a borderland for centuries.
The longtime home of Indigenous peoples including the Northwest Coast Indians, the Lummi, Nooksack, Samish and Semiahmoo, the region was later claimed by Spain, Russia, England and the United States, according to the county's official website.
Once part of the disputed Oregon Country territory, it was split in two by a treaty between the British and American governments in 1846, creating the northern boundary of the western United States. Whatcom County was established eight years later, 35 years before Washington gained statehood.
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The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump's team wanted Kilmar Abrego Garcia to face ‘American justice.' He could be deported again before trial
Donald Trump's White House is doing everything it can to make sure Kilmar Abrego Garcia never steps foot on U.S. soil as a free man – even if that means setting him free in another country while he faces criminal charges in this one. Federal prosecutors want to bring his smuggling case to trial as soon as possible. But if he's released from pretrial detention, immigration officials intend to arrest and deport him before a trial even begins, according to government lawyers. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is set to begin January 27, 2026. He could be in another country by then. The administration spent weeks insisting Abrego Garcia would never be allowed back to the country after admitting he was wrongfully deported in March. Yet he was abruptly flown back to the United States from El Salvador last month to face a criminal indictment in Tennessee. At a press conference announcing his return, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Abrego Garcia would face 'American justice.' In recent court hearings in two different states, where judges are presiding over a criminal case and his wrongful removal lawsuit, Justice Department lawyers said they would only move forward with his criminal prosecution if he remains in custody while awaiting trial. If he is released on bail, they would let Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest him and send him out of the country, again. Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis hauled Trump administration officials to court this month to understand what, if anything, the government intends to do with Abrego Garcia when he's released from pretrial custody. Department of Homeland Security officials admitted that ICE intends to arrest him, but they don't yet know where he will be deported. Government attorneys had previously announced plans to deport him to a 'third country' instead of his native El Salvador. 'There's been no decision made, as he is not in ICE custody,' Thomas Giles, assistant director for ICE enforcement and removal operations, testified last week. ICE intends to take custody of Abrego Garcia 'as soon as possible,' Giles said. Where he will await his removal from the country will depend on available space in immigration detention centers, according to Giles. Last month, Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes determined there is no legal basis to keep him in pretrial detention. She set potential conditions for his release, including wearing an ankle bracelet and living with his brother in Maryland. The federal judge overseeing his criminal case will decide next week whether to uphold that ruling. On July 16, Tennessee District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. said his decision will not be determined by what ICE wants to do. 'Frankly we don't know what is going to happen to him in that regard,' the judge said. But he said he was 'having a hard time understanding' arguments from federal prosecutors that there were no conditions under which Abrego Garcia — who does not have a criminal record — could be out of jail while awaiting trial. Holmes also appeared to reject the government's characterization of Abrego Garcia as a dangerous MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and serial abuser following claims from administration officials and government attorneys that 'defy common sense.' Under cross examination from defense attorney Sean Hecker, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Peter Joseph admitted that he did not know that one of the government's central informants in the case gave conflicting statements about Abrego Garcia's alleged gang ties in several interviews with federal agents. He also testified that he didn't know that the informants were in contact with other potential cooperators — at least three of whom sought deals with the government to legally remain in the United States in exchange for their testimony. Three of the witnesses are related, and Joseph admitted it was 'always a possibility' that they coordinated their stories to secure a better deal for themselves. 'They're family,' Crenshaw shot back. 'Family talk.' But it won't be Crenshaw's decision that decides whether Abrego Garcia walks free. That will be up to Judge Xinis in Maryland. She is expected to decide whether to block the Trump administration from deporting him a second time. Xinis has signaled that she will order the government to give him at least two days' notice, should the judge overseeing his criminal case release him from pretrial custody. Abrego Garcia was 16 years old when he fled gang violence in El Salvador and illegally entered the United States in 2011. Abrego Garcia, now 29, was living and working in Maryland with his wife and child, both American citizens, and two children from a previous marriage, when ICE agents arrested him in March. After government lawyers admitted in court documents that he was removed from the country due to a procedural error, federal judges and a unanimous Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to 'facilitate' his return. A 2019 order from an immigration judge had blocked his removal to El Salvador over humanitarian concerns, and Supreme Court justices unanimously agreed the Trump administration had 'illegally' defied that order. Still, the government spent weeks battling court orders while officials publicly said he would never step foot in the United States as they characterized him as a serial abuser and criminal gang member. But emails and text messages provided to members of Congress appear to show Trump administration and government lawyers were sympathetic to his wrongful removal and made efforts to get him out of El Salvador before the case made headlines causing major headaches for the White House. Erez Reuveni, a 15-year veteran of the Justice Department who was working in the Office of Immigration Litigation, was closely involved with several high-profile immigration cases in the first months of Donald Trump's presidency when he was fired in April. He supplied members of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a massive trove of internal messages showing the lengths the administration was taking to label Abrego Garcia a member of MS-13 as they tried to figure out if they were violating court orders by keeping him in El Salvador. Before the case exploded into a national story at the center of the president's anti-immigration agenda, administration officials spent several days discussing the feasibility of returning Abrego Garcia or ensuring that he would be protected from the gang violence he fled as a teenager. The messages also revealed simmering tensions between Justice Department attorneys who worked the cases in court and lawyers for Homeland Security who were directed to advance the president's agenda, regardless of legal risks. Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia was , according to his legal team. His attorneys alleged he experienced 'severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture' while locked up inside. 'Last time they put Kilmar Abrego Garcia on a plane, he didn't know where that plane was going until it landed at the airport in El Salvador,' his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told reporters last week. 'That's more or less what they want to do again, and that's what we're here to stop.'


Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump tariffs land 100-year-old Stilton maker with £800k bill
Donald Trump's trade war has landed one of Britain's oldest Stilton cheese makers with an £800,000 bill. Bill Mathieson, chief executive of the 114 year-old Long Clawson Dairy, in Leicestershire, said the company would be forced to pay almost £1m in extra levies because of new US tariffs – despite Sir Keir Starmer signing a trade deal with Donald Trump. Mr Mathieson said: 'We've got about £10m of sales going into the US … you take that and we've ended up with an increase of just under £800,000. The trade deal has had no impact in terms of benefit for dairy [producers]. It's certainly not helpful.' Under the terms of Sir Keir's trade deal with the US, tariffs on British steelmakers were reduced to zero, but a 10pc levy remained on other goods including cheese such as Long Clawson's. Mr Mathieson said the company would be forced to increase the price of some of its cheese exports as a result, but that it would be unlikely it could fully recover the impact of the tariffs through price rises. However, he added: 'We might take a bit of a hit, but actually we're very positive about the opportunities that exist in the US. Our strategy will be to try and offset [tariffs] by going out and winning new business.' Founded in 1911, Long Clawson Dairy is Britain's largest producer of Stilton cheese and produces a significant amount of the world's supply. Mr Mathieson also warned that the company faces a barrage of extra costs closer to home owing to tax rises on employers brought in from April. He said: 'Just through National Insurance (NI) contributions and [a 6.7pc increase in the] National Living Wage, it impacted us to the tune of about £1.5m.' He said the company was having to raise its prices as a result. Food bosses have repeatedly warned that raising the cost of employment will fuel inflation. Food prices rose by 4.5pc in the year to June, climbing from a rate of 4.4pc in May. This was the fastest rate of food inflation since February last year. Mr Mathieson added: 'We have to pass this on, because we don't have the margins, and we don't want to be another Stilton that goes to the wall because we no longer make money in our business.' Many of Britain's Stilton makers have closed in recent years as the cheese has suffered from a lack of demand. Arla, the UK's biggest dairy company, said last year it would end production at its 244-year-old Tuxford & Tebbutt Creamery in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, if it was unable to find a buyer. Long Clawson has spent recent years battling to rejuvenate the image of Stilton and convince Gen Z shoppers of its merits, working with celebrity chefs and social media influencers. Mr Mathieson said this project was now bearing fruit and that sales of Stilton and blue cheeses were growing strongly. He added that the company was working on developing a more mild Stilton to help appeal to younger people who have not developed a taste for the intense flavour of traditional Stilton. He said: 'What we've been told is that a younger generation, they'd like something that's a bit more of an entry point into blue cheese. So we've developed a Stilton that is milder and a lot more buttery.'


Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says he will help Afghans stuck in the UAE
WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would help Afghans detained in the United Arab Emirates for years after fleeing their country when its Taliban leaders extended control over it. Trump, a Republican who has criticized high levels of immigration, suspended refugee resettlement after he took office in January. In April, the Trump administration terminated temporary deportation protections for thousands of Afghans in the U.S. "I will try to save them, starting right now," Trump said in a post on Truth Social that linked to an article on the Afghans held in limbo there. The UAE, a close security partner of the United States, agreed in 2021 to temporarily house several thousand Afghans evacuated from Kabul as the Taliban ousted the U.S.-backed government during the final stages of the U.S.-led withdrawal. Canada agreed in 2022 to resettle about 1,000 of the Afghans still held in the UAE after a U.S. request. It is unclear how many remain in the Gulf country. Nearly 200,000 Afghans have been brought to the U.S. by former President Joe Biden's administration since the chaotic U.S. troop withdrawal from Kabul. Refugees include family members of Afghan-American U.S. military personnel, children cleared to reunite with their parents, relatives of Afghans already admitted and tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. government during the 20-year war.