Newlywed Palestinian woman released from ICE custody after months in detention
Sakeik, who is married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested at the St. Thomas Airport in the U.S. Virgin Islands in February.
"The Trump administration's brazenly unconstitutional attempt to deport this young woman in violation of a federal court order should shock the conscience of every American. Had we not intervened, she may very well be in a foreign country right now, separated from her family like so many others illegally deported to third countries," Eric Lee, Sakeik's attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.
MORE: Newlywed bride's honeymoon ends with months of ICE detention and the prospect of deportation
The government had attempted to deport Sakeik twice -- the first of which was to Israel just hours before it launched its attack on Iran in June. The second attempt to deport her was made despite a federal judge ordering that she remain in the northern district of Texas and not be removed from the U.S.
Sakeik's family is from Gaza, but she is legally stateless and has lived in the U.S. since she was 8 years old. Her family had traveled to the U.S. on a tourist visa and applied for asylum, according to Shaikh.
MORE: Government attempts to deport stateless Palestinian woman again despite court order
Sakeik was issued a deportation order more than a decade ago after her asylum case was denied, but she was permitted to stay in the U.S. under what's known as an "order of supervision," in which she was given a work permit and regularly checks in with federal immigration authorities, according to her attorney and her husband.
The first stage of her Green Card application was approved last week, according to her husband, Taahir Shaikh.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hamas says it has given a 'positive' response to the latest ceasefire proposal in Gaza
DEIR al-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Friday it has given a 'positive' response to the latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza but said further talks were needed on implementation. It was not clear if Hamas' statement meant it had accepted the proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump for a 60-day ceasefire. Hamas has been seeking guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war, now nearly 21 months old. Donald Trump has been pushing hard for a deal to be reached, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit the White House next week to discuss a deal. The Hamas statement came as Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza early Friday, while a hospital said another 20 people died in shootings while seeking aid. The U.N. human rights office said it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within the span of a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid. Most were killed while trying to reach food distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization, while others were massed waiting for aid trucks connected to the United Nations or other humanitarian organizations, it said. Efforts ongoing to halt the war Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, during which the U.S. would "work with all parties to end the war.' He urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. In its statement late Friday, Hamas said it 'has submitted its positive response' to Egyptian and Qatari mediators. It said it is 'fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations regarding the mechanism for implementing this framework.' It did not elaborate on what needed to be worked out in implementation. A Hamas official said the ceasefire could start as early as next week but he said talks were needed first to work out how many Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for each freed Israeli hostage and to specify the amount of aid that will enter Gaza during the truce. Hamas has said it wants aid to flow in greater quantities through the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the response with the press. The official also said that negotiations would start from the first day of the truce on a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in return for the release of remaining hostages. He said that Trump has guaranteed that the truce will be extended beyond 60 days if needed for those negotiations to reach a deal. There has been no confirmation from the United States of such a guarantee. Previous rounds of negotiations have run aground over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the destruction of the militant group. 'We'll see what happens. We're going to know over the next 24 hours,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One late Thursday when asked if Hamas had agreed to the latest framework for a ceasefire. 20 killed Friday while seeking aid Officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said at least three Palestinians were killed Friday while on the roads heading to food distribution sites run by the Israeli-backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza. Since GHF began distributions in late May, witnesses have said almost daily that Israeli troops open fire toward crowds of Palestinians on the roads leading to the food centers. To reach the sites, people must walk several kilometers (miles) through an Israeli military zone where troops control the road. The Israeli military has said previously it fires warning shots to control crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops. The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel's military. On Friday, in reaction to the U.N. rights agency's report, it said in a statement that it was investigating reports of people killed and wounded while seeking aid. It said it was working at 'minimizing possible friction between the population' and Israeli forces, including by installing fences and placing signs on the routes. Separately, witnesses have said Israeli troops open fire toward crowds of Palestinians who gather in military-controlled zones to wait for aid trucks entering Gaza for the U.N. or other aid organizations not associated with GHF. On Friday, 17 people were killed waiting for trucks in eastern Khan Younis in the Tahliya area, officials at Nasser Hospital said. Three survivors told the AP they had gone to wait for the trucks in a military 'red zone' in Khan Younis and that troops opened fire from a tank and drones. It was a 'crowd of people, may God help them, who want to eat and live,' said Seddiq Abu Farhana, who was shot in the leg, forcing him to drop a bag of flour he had grabbed. 'There was direct firing.' Airstrikes also hit the Muwasi area on the southern end of Gaza's Mediterranean coast, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes are sheltering in tent camps. Of the 15 people killed in the strikes, eight were women and one was a child, according to the hospital. Israel's military said it was looking into Friday's reported airstrikes. It had no immediate comment on the reported shootings surrounding the aid trucks. U.N. investigates shootings near aid sites The spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office, Ravina Shamdasani, said the agency was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said 'it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points' operated by GHF. In a message to The Associated Press, Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were 'GHF-related,' meaning at or near its distribution sites. In a statement Friday, GHF cast doubt on the casualty figures, accusing the U.N. of taking its casualty figures 'directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry'and of trying 'to falsely smear our effort.' Shamdasani, the U.N. rights office spokesperson, told the AP that the data 'is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights and humanitarian organizations.' Rik Peeperkorn, representative of the World Health Organization, said Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital operating in the south, receives dozens or hundreds of casualties every day, most coming from the vicinity of the food distribution sites. The International Committee of the Red Cross also said in late June that its field hospital near one of the GHF sites has been overwhelmed more than 20 times in the previous months by mass casualties, most suffering gunshot injuries while on their way to the food distribution sites. Also on Friday, Israel's military said two soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, one in the north and one in the south. Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza. The Israeli military also issued new evacuation orders Friday in northeast Khan Younis in southern Gaza and urged Palestinians to move west ahead of planned military operations against Hamas in the area. The new evacuation zones pushed Palestinians into increasingly smaller spaces by the coast. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed 57,000. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is run by medical professionals employed by the Hamas government, and its numbers are widely cited by the U.N. and international organizations. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. ___ Kullab reported from Jerusalem and Mroue from Beirut. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed.
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration can deport Djibouti detainees to South Sudan after judge denies emergency bid to block flight
The Trump administration will be able to send eight migrants held in Djibouti for weeks to South Sudan, where they fear they will face violence, after a flurry of court activity on Friday. A federal judge in Massachusetts denied an emergency request Friday evening from the migrants' lawyers to block their deportation to the country, where they said their clients could face torture. In a brief order, United States District Judge Brian E. Murphy wrote that he interpreted a Supreme Court decision delivered a day earlier allowing the deportation to South Sudan to move forward as 'binding' on the request, which he said raised 'substantially similar claims.' The nation's highest court on Thursday had ruled in the Trump administration's favor and cleared the way to remove the eight migrants to South Sudan. Earlier Friday, the migrants were handed a brief reprieve from a federal judge in DC that kept the migrants on the ground in Djibouti, while their lawyers transferred their case to Massachusetts federal court, where earlier procedures around the group had been held. Now that Murphy has denied the emergency petition, the flight from Djibouti to South Sudan could take off around 7 p.m. ET. 'Today, law and order prevails,' Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on X following the decision. CNN has reached out to DHS to confirm the status of the flight. The detainees' lawyers had argued they will face torture if they are sent to South Sudan by the US, and say they will be deprived of their constitutional rights. They said the Trump administration is trying to unfairly hurt them with the deportation, which they cast in court filings as 'punitive banishment' and 'severe punishment' and warn the detainees could be put at risk of being 'arbitrarily imprisoned, tortured, killed or severely harmed' if they are released in South Sudan. Judge Randolph Moss in the DC District Court heard arguments in a pair of emergency hearings Friday afternoon before saying the case should be moved to Massachusetts. 'It seems self-evident the US government can't take human beings and send them to a place where their physical well-being is at risk,' such as in South Sudan, either to punish them or to warn other possible migrants to the US of the consequences of illegal immigration, Moss said. He ordered the Trump administration not to move the migrants until 4:30 p.m. ET and told the migrants' lawyers they must move fast to try to get a judge to intervene in Massachusetts. The detainees' lawyers filed their new claims just after 4 p.m. in Massachusetts' federal district court. Attorneys for the migrants said sending them to war-torn South Sudan would be further punishment than the sentences they've already served for crimes. A lawyer argued to Moss in court that the administration's actions in this situation are unprecedented and 'unlike anything that has ever been done by the US with deportations before.' The Justice Department, however, argued that the latest ask for relief should've been filed earlier, in a different type of claim and a different court than Moss'. 'They can't justify their claim-splitting,' said Justice Department attorney Hashim Mooppan. The Justice Department lawyer also expressed frustration to the court that the detainees' legal approach appears to be an attempt to 'drag … out' their being moved out of Djibouti, and said that the US diplomatic relations could be hurt by the multiple rounds of the court fight, as it negotiates with other countries to take migrants it seeks to deport. The eight detainees in Djibouti are from countries including Myanmar, Sudan, Mexico, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba, according to court filings, but the administration since springtime has moved fast to put detainees like them and others on planes and send them to other countries, often with a history of significant safety risks and brutality. The administration also revealed in court Friday additional details on the diplomatic correspondence between the United States and South Sudan, saying that upon arrival, the migrants would be granted an immigration status in accordance with South Sudan laws and immigration procedures, and that the US did not ask for them to be detained there. Moss said on Friday he believed the lawyers for the detainees were 'doing their best to protect the lives and well-being of human beings.' He also cited a stark travel warning from the State Department cautioning Americans headed to the country. 'It does appear placing people in South Sudan does pose significant risks to their physical safety,' Moss said. Still, Moss limited how much he intervened over the US' plans. The judge explained the very short stay he issued Friday afternoon by saying he didn't believe courts should issue administrative stays that last longer than is necessary. This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Mexico President expects boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. to be deported, hopes he serves sentence in home country
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday she expects boxer Julio Cesar Chávez Jr. to be deported to Mexico to serve a sentence for alleged arms trafficking and organized crime, after he was arrested by ICE in Los Angeles on Thursday. Chávez was found to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residency based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen. "The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico," Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing Friday, referring to charges that Chávez faces for arms and drug trafficking. The 39-year-old boxer, according to his attorney Michael Goldstein, was picked up on Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of a home where he resides in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City, near Hollywood. The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim, California. Chávez split his time between both countries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Chávez for overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the U.S. with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. According to the department, Chávez Jr. has been charged with several crimes while in the U.S. On Jan. 22, 2012, the California Highwaay Patrol arrested Chávez and charged him with DUI alcohol/drugs and driving without a license. On June 23, 2012, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, convicted Chávez of the offense of driving under the influence of alcohol and sentenced him to 13 days in jail and 36 months' probation. On Jan. 14, 2023, a District Judge issued an arrest warrant for Chávez for the offense of organized crime for the purpose of committing crimes of weapons trafficking and manufacturing crimes, in the modality of those who participate in clandestinely bringing weapons, ammunition, cartridges, explosives into the country; and those who manufacture weapons, ammunition, cartridges and explosives without the corresponding permit. On Jan. 7, 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Chávez and charged him with Illegal possession of an assault weapon and manufacture or import of a short-barreled rifle. The court convicted Chávez of these charges.' DHS also suspects Chávez is allegedly believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Chávez's application was based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to DHS. According to DHS, in December 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had made a referral to ICE that Chávez was an "egregious public safety threat," but he was allowed to reenter the country on Jan. 4, 2025 after records indicated the Biden Administration had not made him an immigration enforcement priority. The Biden administration allowed Chávez to re-enter the country and paroled him into the country at the San Ysidro port of entry, accorrding to DHS. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
