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Farmer becomes first person to die during Trump's ICE raids

Farmer becomes first person to die during Trump's ICE raids

Sky News2 days ago
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump's Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family's only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
"These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families," the union said in a recent statement on X.
4:28
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
0:52
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
"This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody," DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
"Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible."
Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly "assaulting or resisting officers", the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
"Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors," it added.
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I was abused by Jeffrey Epstein. Why is Trump silencing me?
I was abused by Jeffrey Epstein. Why is Trump silencing me?

Times

time9 minutes ago

  • Times

I was abused by Jeffrey Epstein. Why is Trump silencing me?

A Jeffrey Epstein victim has said the Trump administration's decision to close the case is 'worse than silencing', as a lawsuit is filed to force the government to reveal what it knew about one of the worst sex-trafficking rings in history. Danielle Bensky, 38, who was abused by Epstein when she was a teenage aspiring ballerina in 2004, said the decision left her feeling like she was on a 'first-class flight on a refurbished Lolita Express', using the nickname for Epstein's private jet, which ferried victims around the financier's various homes. 'It feels like the current cabinet is essentially erasing our voices after years of bravery and work to find our way out of silence,' Bensky told The Times. 'It's actually worse than silencing — it's rewriting a narrative as if none of us existed in the first place. 'What does this teach our children? That if you are wealthy and powerful enough, you can make anything disappear, or play the blame game and create conspiracy theories?' Bensky accused Epstein of using her mother's brain-cancer diagnosis as leverage to repeatedly sexually abuse Bensky when she was 18, threatening to withhold treatment if she told anyone. 'Epstein told Bensky that he knew the best surgeons in New York, but that if Bensky wanted Epstein to help her mother then she would have to recruit other girls for him,' her lawyers alleged in a lawsuit filed last year. The US justice department and the FBI announced last week they had found no evidence that Epstein had blackmailed powerful people or kept a 'client list', and reiterated that he died by suicide in his prison cell in 2019. On Monday night Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against attaching a Democratic amendment to another piece of legislation that would force the justice department to release 'the Epstein files'. The measure would have forced Pam Bondi, the attorney-general, to publish all documents related to the convicted sex offender within 30 days. • Pam Bondi said Epstein client list was 'on her desk'. What happened? 'Are you on the side of the rich and powerful, or are you on the side of the people?' Ro Khanna, the California Democrat proposing the measure, said before the vote, promising to introduce the amendment 'again and again and again'. Bensky said it was 'deplorable' the victims' wishes had been ignored. 'For victims, it isn't political. Those documents hold and represent the fragmented pieces of our teenage selves that we have desperately been trying to glue back together for two decades.' Bensky has only recently returned to professional dancing after years of counselling. She said memories of the abuse 'eat at us in the dark corners of our minds, long after politicians go to sleep at night … I thought that we were in an era of shedding light, so that those fragmented pieces could finally become a mosaic. We will never be the same, but at least we could feel whole. The shutdown undermines all of that.' The only one of Epstein's associates to face criminal charges is Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the British media magnate Robert Maxwell, who was convicted of sex-trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. • Ghislaine Maxwell refused appeal on sex-trafficking verdict The victims allege their abuse, however, was enabled by people in his inner circle, as well as associates who have 'never been held to account'. Last year Bensky sued two of Epstein's closest advisers in Manhattan federal court. She alleged in her suit that Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime personal lawyer, and his accountant, Richard Kahn, helped the financier create a complex web of corporations and bank accounts that let him hide his abuses and pay off victims and recruiters, while leaving them 'richly compensated' for their work. 'Epstein did not act alone and the breadth and depth of Epstein-related information that the government is withholding is profound,' said Bensky's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, managing partner of Boies Schiller Flexner. McCawley said the government had yet to disclose information collected from Epstein's computers during raids of his homes in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, as well as financial records that may shed light on how he accrued his vast wealth. 'The government has failed these survivors time and time again,' she said. 'The public should demand nothing less than full accountability for all that were involved irrespective of title, wealth or social status.' Daniel Weiner, Indyke and Khan's lawyer, said in response that neither had 'ever been found in any forum to have committed any misconduct, and they emphatically reject the allegations of wrongdoing contained in the complaint'. Another victim, Maria Farmer, sued the justice department and the FBI last month, claiming they 'chose to do absolutely nothing' after she brought sexual abuse claims against Epstein to an FBI agent in 1996. According to Farmer's lawsuit, she was sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell while she stayed at Epstein's estate as an 'artist-in-residence' in 1996. She also accused them of abusing her sister Annie, who was 16. Annie was one of the four victims who testified against Maxwell during her federal trial. While reporting her concerns to the FBI, Farmer said the agency hung up on her and failed to follow up or properly investigate, and she accused the agency of violating its manual for investigative operations and guidelines, which tasks the FBI with investigating violations of federal law. Farmer alleges that Epstein got away with a 'wide-ranging sex trafficking venture' and was able to do so because the FBI and justice department 'failed to listen to or protect his sex-trafficked, sexually abused and sexually exploited victims'. The FBI declined a request for comment, citing its standard practice of not commenting on ongoing litigation. 'The government had so many missed opportunities to protect victims,' Jennifer Freeman, Farmer's lawyer, told The Times. 'Had the FBI listened to Maria's complaints about Epstein starting in 1996, nearly 25 years of Epstein's abuse of victims could have been avoided as well as additional years of trying to figure out how and why the US government failed to stop Epstein.' Freeman believes a civil lawsuit may be one of the last remaining avenues the victims have to force the justice department to release the findings of the bureau's investigation. 'The one bright spot for victims is the FBI's statement in its recent memorandum: 'One of our highest priorities is combating child exploitation and bringing justice to victims',' Freeman said. 'We will press Maria Farmer's case forward — and hold the US government to its word.'

Trump to unveil $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs
Trump to unveil $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs

The Guardian

time10 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Trump to unveil $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs

Donald Trump will join big oil and technology bosses on Tuesday at a major artificial intelligence and energy summit in Pittsburgh, outraging environmentalists and community organizations. The event comes weeks after the passage of a megabill that experts say could stymy AI growth with its attacks on renewable energy. The inaugural Pennsylvania energy and innovation summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University, will attempt to position the state as an AI leader, showcasing the technological innovation being developed in the city and the widespread availability of fossil fuel reserves to power them. At the gathering, Trump will announce $70bn in AI and energy investments for the state, Axios first reported, in a move the event's host Republican Pennsylvania senator Dave McCormick says will be a boon to local economies. But activists say the investment, which will boost planet-heating energy production, will have disastrous consequences for the climate and for nearby communities. 'Pennsylvanians are paying the price for decisions made behind closed doors: higher utility bills, contaminated water, poor air quality, and worsening health,' said Hilary Flint, Pennsylvania field organizing manager at the non-profit Center for Oil and Gas Organizing. Flint signed a Tuesday letter to Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro opposing his plans to work with Trump to expand AI, along with dozens of organizations and individuals. The event also comes less than two weeks after Republicans on Capitol Hill passed a Trump-backed budget bill which could dramatically increase the spending and effort needed to power AI data centers, thanks to its rollback of green energy tax credits. Renewable energy is almost always cheaper to build and easier to bring online than fossil fuels. Many tech executives invited to the event have said the availability of wind and solar are essential to the success of AI. Microsoft's Satya Nadella said last May that powering data centers with renewable energy would 'drive down the cost of AI', while OpenAI head Sam Altman said months earlier that 'there's no way' to grow his industry without a 'breakthrough' in affordable clean energy technology. Tech giants Google and its parent company Alphabet, as well as Meta have also both invested in wind and solar to power data centers. But the oil industry, whose top brass are also at the Pittsburgh summit, lobbied in favor of the megabill's green energy incentive rollbacks. 'It includes almost all of our priorities,' Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the fossil fuel industry's largest lobbying group, told CNBC about the legislation. Sommers is on the guest list for the event. The gathering, to which no public interest consumer or environmental groups were invited, is expected to severely downplay the climate and health consequences of this technological expansion fueled by oil and gas. Data centers used for AI are highly resource intensive, sometimes consuming as much power as entire cities. By the end of the decade, data processing, mainly for AI, is expected to consume more electricity in the US alone than manufacturing steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to the International Energy Agency. 'Political leaders should be investing their time meeting with frontline communities, environmental scientists, and renewable energy leaders and using their political muscle to create a just transition to renewable energy — not attending summits that double down on old, dirty energy,' said Jess Conard, Appalachia director at the environmental group Beyond Plastics, who lives in the nearby town of East Palestine, Ohio. 'Fossil fuels aren't progress, no matter how you try to rebrand them.' Critics have also raised concerns about security and privacy in the wake of AI's growth. The New York Times and other plaintiffs, including prominent authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Chabon and Junot Díaz and the comedian Sarah Silverman, are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement; OpenAI has also received scrutiny for reported labor misconduct. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have defended their positions around copyright infringement allegations. 'Trump's radical AI plan is yet another example of the President siding with powerful corporations ahead of the American people,' said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

Free speech under threat as Britons believe they can no longer speak their mind
Free speech under threat as Britons believe they can no longer speak their mind

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time14 minutes ago

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Free speech under threat as Britons believe they can no longer speak their mind

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found. Nearly half of those polled (49 per cent) believe people are too easily offended, particularly if they speak out on race and immigration issues, according to research for the Commission for Countering Extremism, which advises the Government. The more outspoken people's views, the more likely they were to feel constrained by the risk of offending others. Older, white males without a university education are among the groups who feel the most restricted. The study, based on interviews with 2,500 people, was conducted by Ipsos to establish the state of free speech in Britain. It follows controversies such as the 2021 protests against a teacher in Batley, West Yorkshire, who received death threats and went into hiding after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed from Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, during a religious studies lesson. Similar concerns over the right to freedom of expression and protest have been raised in the aftermath of the Oct 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza conflict. More than a third (36 per cent) felt they had to hold back on expressing their views on race or ethnicity, while 32 per cent said they did not feel they could freely speak out on immigration or religious extremism. On asylum and Gaza, 31 per cent felt constrained, rising to 41 per cent for transgender issues. Groups that were predominantly white, male, older and non-graduate were more strongly in favour of free speech, regardless of the issue, but aat the same time felt more constrained in their ability to freely share their views about most topics. Nearly half of this group (48 per cent) said they felt they had to restrain their comments on race, far higher than the average of 36 per cent. The same was true on immigration, where 43 per cent felt they had to hold back on their views compared to an overall average among the public of 32 per cent who felt constrained. Christians were more likely to back the right to free speech, but also more likely than average to feel they had to hold back on expressing their views. Conversely, women, younger Britons and people from ethnic minorities or non-Christian religions tended to think that people needed to be more sensitive in the way they spoke. Just under a third (29 per cent) of all those polled agreed that people needed to be more sensitive. But this rose to 34 per cent amongst women, 45 per cent from ethnic minorities and 45 per cent for non-Christians. By contrast, men, people aged over 65 and those from white ethnicities and Christians were more likely to think that people are too easily offended. While on average 49 per cent felt people were too easily offended, this rose to 56 per cent of men, 54 per cent of those from a white ethnicity and 59 per cent for Christians. These were nearly double the rates for people from ethnic minorities and non-Christians. Race and ethnicity was the only topic overall where the balance of opinion was more towards avoiding offence rather than speaking freely (by 42 per cent to 34 per cent), according to the research. People predominantly held back from expressing their views to avoid causing offence or starting an argument. Forty-six per cent resisted expressing their views on any religious figure, text or teaching and just 35 per cent held back their political views to avoid causing offence. Some said they held back because of heightened concerns about their safety. For religious topics, 25 per cent said they restrained themselves because of safety fears, and 17 per cent over political views. The report said there was a group of people for whom free speech was a significant issue. They represented about 37 per cent of the total sample and were described by researchers as those who were most concerned about the pace of change. But they were also the group most likely to express 'heightened concerns' about their ability to speak freely about race, immigration, asylum and religious extremism. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'The Left's determination to shut down debate around immigration has created a chilling environment for free speech. In this context, a catch-all definition of Islamophobia would be a disaster, worsening the culture of fear that has spread throughout society.'

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