A look at what the DOJ is looking for in Ghislaine Maxwell interview
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Boston Globe
5 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps
In her order, Frimpong said there was a 'mountain of evidence' that federal immigration enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. She wrote the government cannot use factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone's occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion to detain someone. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The appeals court panel agreed and questioned the government's need to oppose an order preventing them from violating the constitution. Advertisement 'If, as Defendants suggest, they are not conducting stops that lack reasonable suspicion, they can hardly claim to be irreparably harmed by an injunction aimed at preventing a subset of stops not supported by reasonable suspicion,' the judges wrote. A hearing for a preliminary injunction, which would be a more substantial court order as the lawsuit proceeds, is scheduled for September. Advertisement The Los Angeles region has been a battleground with the Trump administration over its aggressive immigration strategy that spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guards and Marines for several weeks. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status to be in the U.S. from Home Depots, car washes, bus stops, and farms, many who have lived in the country for decades. Among the plaintiffs is Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a video taken by a friend June 13 being seized by federal agents as he yells, 'I was born here in the states, East LA bro!' They want to 'send us back to a world where a U.S. citizen ... can be grabbed, slammed against a fence and have his phone and ID taken from him just because he was working at a tow yard in a Latino neighborhood,' American Civil Liberties Union attorney Mohammad Tajsar told the court Monday. The federal government argued that it hadn't been given enough time to collect and present evidence in the lawsuit, given that it was filed shortly before the July 4 holiday and a hearing was held the following week. 'It's a very serious thing to say that multiple federal government agencies have a policy of violating the Constitution,' attorney Jacob Roth said. He also argued that the lower court's order was too broad, and that immigrant advocates did not present enough evidence to prove that the government had an official policy of stopping people without reasonable suspicion. He referred to the four factors of race, language, presence at a location, and occupation that were listed in the temporary restraining order, saying the court should not be able to ban the government from using them at all. He also argued that the order was unclear on what exactly is permissible under law. Advertisement 'Legally, I think it's appropriate to use the factors for reasonable suspicion,' Roth said The judges sharply questioned the government over their arguments. 'No one has suggested that you cannot consider these factors at all,' Judge Jennifer Sung said. However, those factors alone only form a 'broad profile' and don't satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard to stop someone, she said. Sung, a Biden appointee, said that in an area like Los Angeles, where Latinos make up as much as half the population, those factors 'cannot possibly weed out those who have undocumented status and those who have documented legal status.' She also asked: 'What is the harm to being told not to do something that you claim you're already not doing?' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the Friday night decision a 'victory for the rule of law' and said the city will protect residents from the 'racial profiling and other illegal tactics' used by federal agents.
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump recalibrates Gaza stance as humanitarian concerns grow
President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made a rare trip to Gaza on Friday, spending five hours on the ground touring an aid distribution center and vowing to address a humanitarian crisis amid a growing global outcry. 'The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,' Witkoff wrote on X. The visit is emblematic of the ongoing shift inside the White House as Trump, while still supportive of Israel's campaign, has grown increasingly concerned about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. A White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president's thinking, asserted that Trump 'hasn't changed his fundamental belief' that Hamas is 'largely' to blame for the protracted conflict. Still, referring to Trump's own comments in recent days, the official acknowledged 'some new concerns.' Those concerns, spurred by photos and accounts of starving children, are echoed within MAGA circles and the broader public. A Gallup poll this week showed that American support for Israel's military action has dropped to 32 percent, a new low. Trump 'calibrates his interactions based on what the issues are. And sometimes people make the mistake of not just listening to the president,' said a senior White House official granted anonymity to discuss the president's thinking. 'He's just straightforward on this stuff. … Like, what's going on with Gaza and Israel. He wants to settle it. Yes, you can't negotiate with Hamas. But, like, he doesn't want kids to starve. He doesn't want that to happen. It's just, that's it. You know, there's not more to it than that.' That doesn't mean Trump is ready to embrace some foreign allies' call to recognize Palestinian statehood — although his opposition may not be quite as firm as it was a couple months ago. Trump earlier this summer privately urged French President Emmanuel Macron against recognizing a Palestinian state, according to two people familiar with the conversation, who were granted anonymity to share closely held details. The call, which has not been previously reported, did not produce the intended result and Macron announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state last week. But when Trump was asked about it while traveling in Scotland last weekend, he was nonchalant about Macron going ahead with something he'd worked privately to forestall. 'What he says doesn't matter,' the president said. During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump seemed almost agnostic about Palestinian statehood, leaving his counterpart space to fall in line behind Macron. 'I'm not going to take a position,' said Trump with Starmer seated at his side. 'I don't mind him taking a position.' The White House declined to comment on Trump's conversation with Macron or his overall approach to the situation in Gaza. And on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president has 'expressed his displeasure and disagreement' with both Macron and Starmer, as well as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who also indicated support for Palestinian statehood. Trump, Leavitt continued, still opposes recognizing Palestine as a separate state. 'He feels as though that's rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages,' she said. Even so, Trump has broken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not only acknowledging the humanitarian crisis in Gaza but also dispatching top aides to address it. Witkoff's social media post included a picture of him and Huckabee meeting with the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, to which the U.S. has committed $30 million. Scores of charities and aid groups have criticized the organization for failing to safely distribute aid and said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to access its distribution sites. The Israeli military insists it fires only 'warning shots' and blames Hamas for the violence. Trump on Friday said Witkoff had a "great meeting." "He had a meeting on getting the people fed, and that's what we want,' Trump said. Concern for the plight of the Palestinians is a striking turn for the U.S. president who, just months ago, mused about creating a 'riviera' in the Middle East, a plan that appeared to be centered on forcibly relocating Palestinians into neighboring countries and razing their homes in Gaza. And it was Trump who gave Netanyahu explicit approval, if not outright encouragement, in March to end the fragile U.S. brokered ceasefire after just two months and resume Israel's all-out war and near-total blockade of humanitarian aid. At the time, the president warned Hamas 'THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!' if continued to hold hostages and declared he was giving Israel "everything it needs to finish the job.' The senior White House official said Trump just wants the bloodshed to end and is 'not deeply concerned about the details.' 'The president routinely preserves optionality and off ramps,' the official said. 'That's kind of his way — a lot of exit strategies on any given thing that are somewhat acceptable.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Their families fled the Nazis. Facing Trump, US Jews are making Germany ‘Plan B'
Germany is making it easier for the descendants of victims of Nazism to obtain German citizenship, and an increasing number of American Jews are applying. While some are seeking citizenship for practical reasons or as a form of reparation, others see it as a way to escape an increasingly anti-Semitic America under US President Donald Trump. Joe Sacks, a high school science teacher in Washington, DC, has begun the process of obtaining German citizenship. He is one of hundreds of Jewish Americans looking to reclaim German citizenship after their families fled the Nazis. "You click 'Yes, I'm Jewish' on the German form and send it to the German government,' he told NPR in an interview last month. 'It's wild.' Among the hundreds of Jewish-American applicants seeking German citizenship, many cite practical reasons like easier travel or opportunities in Europe. Others say they want to have a 'Plan B' in today's tense political climate. But for many, it is a decision taken with a heavy heart. A growing trend Trump's attempts to demonize and scapegoat segments of the population – notably immigrants, 'elite' institutions like universities as well as the media – are uncomfortable echoes of 1930s prewar Germany. His insistence on abject loyalty and taking control of state, independent and cultural institutions to serve his own ends have drawn comparisons to fascist and autocratic regimes. And more than one former Trump adviser has publicly made a Nazi salute – in one case, prompting a French far-right leader to cancel a planned US speech. Read moreWhat parallels do historians see between the Trump administration and the Nazi regime? The United States is also experiencing a surge in hate crime and xenophobic speech. "This rise of authoritarianism just parallels the rise of Hitler,' Eric Podietz, a retired, Philadelphia-based IT consultant who has applied for German citizenship, told NPR. "The squelching of speech and the academic institutions being compromised. The signs are there. It's happening." Podietz's mother fled Germany when she was a child in the late 1930s. Like Sacks, he isn't planning to move, but is increasingly worried by the political rhetoric in the United States that he says harks back to that heard in Germany before his family was forced to flee. At a ceremony held in July 2024 at the German consulate in New York, 82 Holocaust survivors, along with their children and grandchildren, became German citizens. "We've seen an upward trend since 2017, when Donald Trump [first] became president,' David Gill, Germany's then consul general in New York, told the German news program Tagesschau, which covered the event. And the numbers only continue to increase. The New York consulate received 350 applications in 2016 versus 1,500 in 2024, which resulted in 700 naturalizations, according to the German Consulate General NY Instagram account. Streamlined procedure The German constitution granted citizenship to former German citizens who were persecuted by the Nazis and their descendants back in 1949. But for years, difficult legal requirements prevented many applicants from taking advantage. Some were denied German citizenship because their ancestors had adopted another nationality before their German citizenship was officially revoked. Individuals born before April 1, 1953, could only obtain citizenship if they were able to prove that their father had been stripped of German nationality – citizenship having been stripped from the mother was not enough. Germany addressed these problems and others beginning in 2021, significantly simplifying the citizenship process. Anyone applying now can rely on proof obtained on the maternal side, and no longer need to prove they can support themselves financially. Applicants just need to prove that their ancestors were persecuted in Germany between 1933 and 1945, or that they belonged to a targeted group like Jews or Roma, political dissidents or the mentally ill. Although the application process is free of charge, finding old documents to prove family links can be a major hurdle, said Marius Tollenaere, a partner at Frankfurt-based immigration law firm Fragomen, in comments to CNN. The applications must also be submitted in German. Reluctance from some families All four of Scott Mayerowitz's grandparents were forced to flee Germany in the 1930s. He grew up in New Jersey with parents who refused to buy any German-made products or drive a German car. The decision to apply for citizenship from the country that had caused his family so much pain was a weighty one. His mother Susan agreed to gather the necessary documents, albeit reluctantly. 'My parents must be turning over in their graves,' she told CNN. Mayerowitz convinced his mother by pointing out the practical benefits, including the work and educational opportunities the EU could offer his own daughter. 'And finally, I said if for some reason she one day needed to flee the US for persecution, this opened up a lot more doors,' he told the network. Arlington resident Anne Barnett had a similar experience with her mother, who was initially upset that she wanted citizenship from the country that had exterminated so much of her family. She came around eventually, Barnett told CNN. Unfortunately, what convinced her was the increasing anti-Semitism in the United States. Travel writer Erin Levi of Connecticut also made the move to obtain German citizenship after she found her grandfather's US alien ID card, which was stamped '1942' and had Germany as his country of citizenship. Eighty years after the end of World War II, Levi told CNN she feels safer in Germany than in other countries where anti-Semitism is on the rise. 'I think Germany has become such a strong ally and supporter of Israel. It's incredible to see the responsibility they've taken for the atrocities they committed. There aren't that many other countries that have,' she said. Turning the Page Steve North made the decision to apply for German citizenship in 2020 out of fear that Trump would be re-elected. North, a writer for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, recalled an emotional exchange with former consul general Gill, who handed him his naturalization papers. To his surprise, Gill said that giving him his papers 'feels wonderful, because we Germans get part of our history back', North wrote for the agency. ''It reminds us how much knowledge and wisdom was lost by expelling and murdering the Jews.' Gill went on to describe handing naturalization papers to a 97-year-old woman from Hamburg who said the process gave her closure, and of repatriating a 95-year-old man who told him, 'the Germany of today is a Germany I feel comfortable with'. While North isn't planning on leaving the United States just yet, he is keeping his options open. '[T]he unthinkable happened in a supposedly civilized country in modern times, and it would be foolish to disregard the possibility of history repeating itself here, given the Jew-hatred we constantly see expressed on both the extreme right and left of the American political spectrum,' he wrote.
