EXCLUSIVE Is Trump's ‘personal Gestapo' turning America into a police state? US president's heavily armed shock troops behind raids on illegal migrants will soon outnumber the FBI
The military cavalcade advanced menacingly through the city's MacArthur Park – dubbed the 'Ellis Island of the West Coast' after New York's historic migrant processing centre – on Monday, in a so-called 'immigration enforcement operation' codenamed Operation Excalibur.
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BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Camp Mystic buildings were removed from flood map, US media reports
US regulators reportedly altered official maps of flooding risks to remove many of the buildings at a camp in Texas where 27 children died in severe floods. Citing official records, the New York Times and Associated Press said maps by the Federal Emergency Management (Fema) in 2011 had initially considered the popular summer camp to be in high risk of flooding. But they say that Camp Mystic - located in a low-lying area by the Guadalupe River - then successfully challenged those BBC has contacted Fema and Camp Mystic, neither of which have commented publicly on the issue. Fema describes flood maps as "a tool that communities use to know which areas have the highest risk of flooding".Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle, who has studied the Fema flood maps, said she found it "perplexing" that the riverside camp had been granted exemptions from the maps. "I think it's extremely troubling that it's a camp for children," Prof Pralle told the New York Times. "You'd think you want to be extra cautious - that you'd go beyond the minimum of what's required for flood protection."Fema's official flood maps show that some of Camp Mystic's cabins were within a "floodway", a particularly hazardous area where dangerous floodwaters would be expected to flow, the New York Times reported. It said that other cabins were within a broader zone that would also be expected to flood once every 100 designations require the camp to have flood insurance and tighter regulations on any construction newspaper added that the Fema maps had not been modified to incorporate Camp Mystic's written popular camp lost at least 27 young girls when floodwaters ripped through the premises before dawn on 4 Texas, at least 129 people have been killed, and scores are still Friday, President Donald Trump visited the flood-hit areas, pledging that the government would help those who lost their houses and properties to rebuild."I've never seen anything like it," he said. Trump also dismissed a question from a reporter about what more could have been done to warn residents, saying: "Only an evil person would ask a question like that."In the wake of the deadly tragedy, questions have been raised about whether adequate warnings were provided and why camps weren't evacuated ahead of the have said a number of factors led to the deadly impact of the flash flood, including the pre-dawn timing and the location of some buildings.
BBC News
37 minutes ago
- BBC News
Donald Trump defends Pam Bondi over Jeffrey Epstein files
US President Donald Trump has defended Pam Bondi, America's highest-ranking prosecutor, amid growing calls from the president's supporters for her to a lengthy social media post, Trump hit out at complaints from critics who have accused Bondi of withholding more information about the death of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his so-called client list. The mounting attacks from critics come after a memo released by Bondi's Justice Department last week failed to deliver what many had hoped would be major revelations in the Epstein case."Let Pam Bondi do her job," Trump wrote in all caps, encouraging his supporters to "not waste time and energy" on Epstein. US Attorney General Bondi's critics include far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who was frequently seen with Trump on the campaign trail, and billionaire Elon Musk, Trump's biggest campaign memo sent out on Monday, jointly released with the FBI, said there was "no incriminating client list" nor evidence to suggest Epstein had blackmailed high-profile figures suspected of being in what conservatives call the "deep state". The government's findings were made, according to the memo, after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data. The findings follow multiple pledges from Bondi to reveal potentially damaging evidence related to Epstein, including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs". Many of Bondi's past claims related to the Epstein files, and the possibility of hidden evidence, had been echoed by FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan the memo was released, frustrations from Bongino led to a contentious meeting between him and Bondi in the White House on Wednesday, according to the BBC's media partner CBS News. The feud highlighted what some have described as a growing division between the FBI and the Justice Department over the Epstein Friday, Loomer claimed on X that she was told Bongino was "seriously thinking about resigning".Bongino did not show up to work on Friday, according to CBS News sudden death aged 66 in a jail cell inside New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center has been a strong source of conspiracy theories for FBI and Justice Department's memo confirmed that Epstein died by suicide, which many people in Trump's orbit had suggested to Fox News in February that Epstein's client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review".However, she clarified those remarks in the White House on Tuesday, telling reporters that she was commenting on the entire Epstein "file" and other president's frustrations with the ongoing public interest in Epstein were on display last week in the White House, when he responded to a reporter's question with: "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?"Conservatives have long held the conspiracy theory that high-ranking Democrats would be implicated in a full release of the Epstein files. Now liberals are asking whether a reluctance to release the files is to shield Trump.
The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
Judges are deporting record numbers of young children under Trump
A far cry from the 'bad, hard criminals' Donald Trump said his undocumented immigrants crackdown would focus on, record-breaking numbers of deportation orders have been issued to young immigrant children under the Trump administration, The Independent can reveal. More kids aged 11 or under — 8,317 — received a removal order from an immigration court in April than any other month in over 35 years of data collection, according to court data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Since Trump's inauguration in January, judges have ordered removals for over 53,000 immigrant minors. Those children are predominantly elementary school age or younger. Some 15,000 children were aged under four years old, and 20,000 of them were children aged four to eleven. Teenagers are also experiencing climbing deportations, with 17,000 seeing a court-ordered removal, although that's lower than their all-time peak in 2020 under the first Trump administration. Some of these children being deported are unaccompanied minors, who do not have a legal guardian in the US; though the exact number is unclear, since immigration authorities stopped recording this data years ago. Children, including toddlers, are required to show up at immigration hearings to be questioned by a judge – and many, unsurprisingly, do not understand what is happening nor the gravity of their situation. In one case, a source tells the Independent, a young child from Haiti had his immigration court hearing remotely in front of a screen. The child, who had a learning disability, was fidgeting and running around the room. Finally, he pointed at the judge on the screen and asked – 'Who's that?' In other cases, children are being arrested by ICE with their families, but held in detention and deported separately. 'A six year old child was picked up [by ICE] with his father, separated from his dad, and parked in custody for four months before being deported,' a lawyer familiar with children's immigration cases told the Independent. The child was unable to receive legal assistance, as he was deported while federal legal funding had been cut. The deportation outcome rate for immigrant children under age 11 is higher than in any other age group, latest figures show, and has jumped significantly since Trump came into office. What's more, under-18s account for one in four (26 percent) of all deportations ordered in immigration court since January – despite the fact that minors make up just 11 percent of the undocumented population. The vast majority (76 percent) of children under 11 do not have legal representation, and cases are being sped through the system, according to sources close to the courts. 'This is pumping up the deportation numbers on the back of kids – their rights to safety and due process are not respected,' the immigration lawyer told the Independent. 'This is about striking fear in the hearts of everybody. It's demonstrable cruelty in the name of so-called deterrence.' Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded to the Independent: 'Accusations that ICE is 'targeting' children are FALSE and an attempt to demonize law enforcement. ICE does not 'target' children nor does it deport children. Rather than separate families, ICE asks mothers if they want to be removed with their children or if the child should be placed with someone safe the parent designates.' Highest-ever deportations for young children Immigration crackdowns across the country have been almost indiscriminate, with new data revealing that ICE is arresting more non-criminals than ever. The number of people who have been deported under the Trump administration is murky; ICE has not disclosed official figures since January, and available immigration court data is not comprehensive, with age not recorded in 13 percent of cases. But analysis of court data reveals that children have been increasingly, and disproportionately, marked for deportation in recent months. Under the Trump administration, immigration courts have quickly ramped up deportation rates. Around two thirds (68 percent) of all immigration court proceedings ended in deportation in May, compared to 39 percent in January. But for children under 11, the removal rate is even higher, at 75 percent in May; and 78 percent for kids under 4 years old, both substantially higher than the 45 percent seen on average for young kids in January. This suggests that children are being disproportionately targeted for deportations under this administration, overrepresented by 2.3 times more than their proportion of the illegal immigrant population, our analysis shows. 'What we're seeing right now is basically a grist mill in immigration court, just scooting kids through the process as quickly as possible,' the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Independent. At the same time, children facing immigration court are more vulnerable and less protected than ever. In spite of this, the Trump administration has been fighting to cancel funding which provides legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children. The government first issued a stop-work order in February, and cancelled federal contracts in March. In April the federal district court ordered the Trump administration to restore funding, saying it is congressionally mandated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Legal assistance programs told the Independent that they had since been re-contracted; but remain on 'pins and needles' as the government appeals the court ruling, and Trump's Big Beautiful Bill makes it harder and more expensive to sue against his policies. Rocket dockets and separating families In the meantime, children are being put on expedited paths through immigration court, known as 'rocket dockets', according to the immigration lawyer. Many of these cases are going through in just two weeks from start to finish – which leaves little-to-no room for a child to prepare the necessary documents and arguments. 'Of course, a child is going to file a case that's not completely fleshed out in all the legal arguments, because they don't understand the legal argument,' the lawyer told the Independent. 'This is also really damaging for trafficking victims. Kids who have experienced severe trauma need the time to have their nervous system relax, to understand that they're safe, to share some of the most sensitive details about their cases.' These tactics evoke the family separation policy, employed in 2018 under the first Trump administration, which forcibly kept parents and children apart when detained at the border – with as many as 1,360 families never reunited, according to Human Rights Watch. 'It is seen as against the due process rights of a child to be systematically separated from their parent or legal guardian,' the lawyer explained. 'What's clear is that they are sidestepping the legal settlement to protect children from these cruel techniques."
