Court Backs Jail Sentence for Bosnian Serb Leader
Dodik has repeatedly called for the Serb-run half of Bosnia-Herzegovina, known as Republika Srpska, to break away and join neighboring Serbia.
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USA Today
11 hours ago
- USA Today
ICE is recruiting agents with incentives, massive ad campaigns. Sheriffs aren't happy.
ICE just made it more attractive to become an immigration agent, with a $50k signing bonus. But are they hurting local law enforcement in the process? Get ready for ICE to flood your social media feeds. Dangling bonuses of up to $50,000, federal officials are launching a massive recruitment campaign to hire more than 14,000 immigration agents, attorneys and other workers to help execute President Donald Trump's border crackdown. The president is newly flush with billions in funding and wants to deport 1 million people annually with the help of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. "America needs you," reads one of the ICE recruiting ads, featuring a finger-pointing Uncle Sam, evoking WWI recruiting posters. "America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out." The federal spending plan funds the hiring of 10,000 new ICE agents, making ICE the single-largest law enforcement agency in the country, larger than the FBI, DEA, ATF and other agencies combined. For comparison, the FBI only has about 13,700 special agents, according to the Department of Justice. Even before the new hires take their posts, the dramatic expansion of public ICE operations has upset communities from coast to coast, and raised questions about the tactics agents have used as they've chased suspects across Home Depot parking lots, farm fields and into medical buildings. The aggressive recruitment efforts have also angered local sheriffs worried that deputies in already understaffed offices will be lured away by the big bonuses and higher pay. "It is tone deaf and reflects a total lack of judgment and character on their part," Jonathan Thompson, the executive director and CEO of the National Sheriff's Association, said of a recruiting offer emailed to local deputies nationwide. "This is either galactically stupid or purposefully malicious. You're just robbing Peter to pay Paul. And in this case, you're robbing the poorest of Peter to pay the richest of Paul." Massive media blitz, incentives and job offers Bolstered by new staffing, federal officials have promised to further flood Democrat-run cities with deportation officers in response to a lack of cooperation in executing Trump's get-tough approach that has targeted undocumented immigrations with or without criminal records. The Department of Homeland Security has already begun hiring for the new jobs. Federal officials are planning a massive social media blitz to reach recruits, potentially advertising on YouTube and SnapChat, but also on connected TVs via Hulu and Amazon Prime. In addition to the signing bonuses, ICE is offering up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness, although applicants don't need to have college degrees to be considered for some of the jobs. ICE officials on July 31 announced they've made 1,000 job offers since Trump signed the funding law. Among those receiving job offers are retired ICE agents who quit during the Biden administration, said acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons in a statement. "They couldn't do the jobs they signed up to do," Lyons said. "Now, people are lining up to work with us because they know our officers and agents are allowed to enforce immigration law fairly and across the board, and that's a cause people really believe in." Applicants 'should expect a certain level of risk' White House officials say there's been an 830% increase in assaults against agents through July 14th, compared with the same period last year, and the recruiting materials say applicants "should expect a certain level of risk," but that they will be trained to take "every precaution" in remaining safe. How quickly ICE can bring aboard the new employees remains uncertain. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has long struggled to hire Border Patrol agents, who typically take more than 300 days to bring aboard, according to a 2024 GAO study. Joe Gamaldi, the national vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police union, said he suspects ICE will face the same recruiting challenges as local departments. He said years of demonizing law enforcement by some politicians, activists and media has created a "toxic cocktail" that will make hiring challenging. "Truth be told, all police agencies are competing for a small pool of people who are still willing to serve and literally die for their communities," he said. "Bonuses and better pay will help, but ultimately police officers, and those interested in police work, want to serve for an agency and communities that appreciate them and don't treat them like scum." Local sheriffs furious about ICE recruitment efforts The aggressive hiring efforts have frustrated local law enforcement leaders who worry their officers will flock to better-paying federal jobs. Without telling local sheriffs in advance, ICE officials directly emailed recruitment offers to hundreds of deputies across the country. Thompson, of the National Sheriff's Association, said sheriffs feel betrayed by the move. Thompson said sheriffs agreed to send deputies to special immigration enforcement training designed for local police, only to then have ICE try to simply poach them away. "It's become a wildfire of discontent, and not how partners treat partners," he said. "This is an embarrassment to this president, and it's sad." Thompson said some sheriff's offices currently have vacancies of 40% and predicted the ICE hiring spree could further winnow the ranks of local law enforcement. Other policing experts have raised concerns about the risks of hiring so quickly. National-security expert and commentator Garrett Graf, who investigated Border Patrol hiring surges after 9/11, said in a Substack post that ICE risks a surge of applications from Americans "specifically attracted by the rough-em-up, masked secret police tactics, no-holds-barred lawlessness that ICE has pursued since January." Graff added: "If you're excited to dress up like you're taking Fallujah for a raid of hard-working roofers in the Home Depot parking lot, working for ICE or CBP shouldn't be for you."
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
US envoy visits aid site in Gaza run by Israeli-backed group that has been heavily criticized
Advertisement Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while heading to such aid sites since May, according to witnesses, health officials and the United Nations human rights office. Israel and GHF say they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated. In a report issued on Friday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said GHF was at the heart of a 'flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.' This handout photo from US Embassy Jerusalem shows White House special envoy Steve Witkoff (center) and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (center let) visiting a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. David Azaguri/Associated Press Witkoff says he's working on a new Gaza aid plan Witkoff posted on X that he had spent over five hours inside Gaza in order to gain 'a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.' He did not request any meetings with U.N. officials in Gaza during his visit, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters. U.N. agencies have provided aid throughout Gaza since the start of the war, when conditions allow. Advertisement Chapin Fay, a spokesperson for GHF, said the visit reflected Trump's understanding of the stakes and that 'feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority.' The aid group says it has delivered over 100 million meals since it began operations in May. All four of the group's sites established in May are in zones controlled by the Israeli military and have become flashpoints of desperation, with starving people scrambling for scarce aid. More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli fire since May while seeking aid in the territory, most near the GHF sites but also near United Nations aid convoys, the U.N. human rights office said last month. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces, and GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Palestinians carried sacks of flour taken from a humanitarian aid convoy en route to Gaza City, in the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on Friday. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press Dozens killed near aid sites Officials at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said Friday they received the bodies of 13 people who were killed while trying to get aid, including near the site that U.S. officials visited. GHF denied anyone was killed at their sites on Friday. The Israeli military said its forces had fired warning shots hundreds of meters (yards) away from the aid site at people it described as suspects and said had ignored orders to distance themselves from its forces. It said it was not aware of any casualties but was still investigating. Another 23 people were killed and dozens wounded near the Israeli-run Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for aid to northern Gaza, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. He said the vast majority of injuries were from gunfire. Advertisement The Israeli military said it struck several armed militants in northern Gaza but that the strike 'was not conducted near the passage of the humanitarian aid trucks and no damage was caused to them.' The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said 11 people were killed at another aid distribution point in Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from the military on those deaths. Humanitarian aid was airdropped to Palestinians over Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press HRW slams Israeli-backed aid system Human Rights Watch said in its report that 'it would be near impossible for Palestinians to follow the instructions issued by GHF, stay safe, and receive aid, particularly in the context of ongoing military operations.' It cited doctors, aid seekers and at least one GHF security contractor. Building on previous accounts, it described how how thousands of Palestinians gather near the sites at night before they open. As they head to the sites on foot, Israeli forces control their movements by opening fire toward them. Once inside the sites, they race for aid in a frenzied fee-for-all, with weaker and more vulnerable people coming away with nothing, HRW said. Responding to the report, Israel's military accused Hamas of sabotaging the aid distribution system, without providing evidence. It said it was working to make the routes under its control safer for those traveling to aid sites. GHF did not immediately respond to questions about the report. The group has never allowed journalists to visit their sites and Israel's military has barred reporters from independently entering Gaza throughout the war. Israeli occupation forces demolished the home of Ibrahim Ziada, in the village of Wadi Rahhal, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. MOSAB SHAWER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Top German diplomat condemns settler violence in the West Bank Germany's foreign minister visited Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian Christian village that has seen recent attacks by Israeli settlers. Johann Wadephul said Israel's settlements are an obstacle to peace and condemned settler violence. He also called on Hamas to lay down its arms in Gaza and release the remaining hostages. Advertisement Germany has so far declined to join other major Western countries in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state. Palestinians in another nearby town laid to rest 45-year-old Khamis Ayad, who they say suffocated while extinguishing fires set by settlers during an attack the night before. Witnesses said Israeli forces fired live rounds and tear gas toward residents after the settlers attacked. Israel's military said police were investigating the incident. They said security forces found Hebrew graffiti and a burnt vehicle at the scene but had not detained any suspects. There has been a rise in settler attacks, as well as Palestinian militant attacks on Israelis and large-scale Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel out of Gaza that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, that day and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 believed to be alive. Most of the others have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Metz reported from Jerusalem and Frankel from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Advertisement
a day ago
Human Rights Watch says Israel committing war crimes in alleged killings of Gazans at aid sites
The international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday accused Israel of war crimes and violations of international law because of the killings of people near food aid distribution sites in Gaza -- as well as deprivation of food, aid and other basic services. There have been several mass casualty events near the four sites run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since it began operating in late May, HRW said. In a statement in response to the HRW report, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it allows the GHF "to operate independently" in the distribution of aid and that troops operate "in proximity" to make sure food is delivered in an orderly fashion.' The HRW's report came as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited Gaza on Friday, inspecting food aid delivery. In previous incidents, the IDF has said that it only fires "warning shots" at crowds and when it feels like its personnel are in danger. At least 58 people were killed near Zikim aid distribution center on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, and another 14 were killed near an aid center in Muraj in southern Gaza, local hospital authorities confirmed to ABC News. In response to the Zikim shooting, the IDF said troops fired "warning shots in the area, not directed at the gathering, in response to the threat posed to them." The Israeli government has also previously claimed that Hamas shoots people waiting in food lines and films the events for propaganda videos. Hamas has denied these claims. "Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at HRW, said in a statement. "U.S.-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths." HRW called on nations to pressure Israel to stop using deadly force as a crowd control method, to lift restrictions on aid entering Gaza and to end the GHF system. Meanwhile, in its statement, the IDF accused Hamas of starving and endangering the population in order to maintain control over the strip and taking actions "to prevent the success of food distribution in Gaza." "The IDF stresses that, as part of its operational management of the main access routes to the distribution areas, IDF forces are conducting systematic review processes in order to improve the operational response in the area and minimize, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population and IDF forces," the statement read, in part. "As part of these efforts, IDF forces have recently worked to reorganize the area by installing new fences, placing signs, opening additional routes, and more." "Additionally, following reports of civilian casualties near distribution areas, in-depth examinations were conducted by the Southern Command, and the incidents are under review by the authorized bodies within the IDF," the statement continued. Meanwhile, a hunger crisis is reportedly worsening across Gaza. At least 159 people have died from starvation and malnutrition, including at least 90 children, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, since the war began in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on southern Israel. Aid slowly resumed entry into Gaza after Israel instituted an 11-week total blockade on all humanitarian supplies entering the strip earlier this year. The blockade caused widespread malnutrition and conditions likely to lead to famine, according to the U.N. and aid groups. Israeli officials have long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the idea that Israel is applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza is "a bold-faced lie," adding that "there is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza." However, a new report on Tuesday from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative monitoring hunger, said that "the worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in the Gaza Strip," and that "access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels." Additionally, a USAID analysis appeared to undercut some of the assertions about the extent to which Hamas had allegedly stolen humanitarian aid. A presentation reviewed by ABC News, examining more than 150 reported incidents involving the theft or loss of U.S.-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, showed that the group failed to find any evidence that Hamas engaged in widespread diversion of aid to cause the amount of hunger seen in the strip. On Friday, Witkoff wrote in a post on X that he and Huckabee spent the previous day meeting with Israeli officials to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza "Today, we spent over five hours inside Gaza -- level setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions, and meeting with [GHF] and other agencies," Witkoff wrote. "The purpose of the visit was to give [President Donald Trump] a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza." It came amid Trump's plan to expand aid deliveries to Gaza, although there are no signs the White House is moving away from the GHF. Hamas senior official Izzat al-Risheq criticized the visit in a statement. "Witkoff's visit to Gaza is nothing but a publicity stunt aimed at containing the growing outrage over the U.S.-Israeli partnership in starving our people in the Strip," he said. "Witkoff sees in Gaza only what the occupation wants him to see, viewing the ongoing tragedy through a misleading Israeli lens."
