Latest news with #Gualtieri
13 hours ago
- Politics
ICE recruitment efforts upset some local law enforcement leaders
Leadership at some local and state law enforcement agencies across the country -- including agencies that have been supportive of federal immigration enforcement efforts -- grew frustrated this week with efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to recruit new deportation officers and investigators from their ranks, according to several sources familiar with the matter. Earlier this week, ICE sent a recruiting email blast directly to officers at sheriffs' offices and other agencies who were trained by ICE to support the federal 287(g) program that allows local officers to perform certain law enforcement functions related to federal immigration enforcement. The email left some local law enforcement leaders upset that after agreeing to have their officers help ICE, the agency was now trying to pull those officers away, sources said. In the email addressed to the "287(g) community," ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said that this is a "critical time for our nation," and "we hope to welcome you to the ICE team soon." "As someone who is currently supporting ICE through the 287(g) program, you understand the unique responsibility we carry in protecting our communities and upholding federal law. Your experience in state or local law enforcement brings invaluable insight and skills to this mission -- qualities we need now more than ever," said the email, which was reviewed by ABC News. "ICE is actively recruiting officers like you who are committed to serving with integrity, professionalism, and a deep sense of duty. This is more than a job; it's a continuation of your service to our country," the email said. The email said that new recruits can receive a signing bonus of $50,000, paid over five years. In Florida, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told ABC News that the outreach from ICE was "wrong." "The State of Florida and Florida law enforcement agencies have expended significant resources and invested in our personnel to ensure that we are properly staffed so that we can provide the best law enforcement services to our residents and visitors," Gualtieri said in a statement to ABC News. "We have partnered with ICE like no other state to help ICE do its job of illegal immigration enforcement," Gualtieri said. "ICE actively trying to use our partnership to recruit our personnel is wrong and we have expressed our concern to ICE leadership." One Trump administration official told ABC News that the administration understands the frustration and values its partners, and that ICE would love to attract quality law enforcement officers who wouldn't need to be trained for as long as a new hire off the street. Not everyone was upset by ICE's latest recruitment effort. In Texas, Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Border Patrol veteran, said that while all of his deputies received a recruitment email from ICE, he is supportive of it. "I have a deputy who is interested and I'm supportive. I want to see my employees succeed at whatever their plans may be," Cleveland said in a statement to ABC News. "I'm retired Border Patrol and I've received an email to come back as well." "Both agencies are beginning to recruit." Cleveland said. "In the past, Border Patrol loses a lot of agents to ICE, due to there being more desirable locations in the interior of the U.S. as opposed to border towns."
Canada News.Net
07-07-2025
- Canada News.Net
Rome gas station blast injures dozens, mayor credits rescue team
ROME, Italy: Quick thinking by emergency responders helped prevent greater devastation after a gas station explosion in southeastern Rome injured dozens of people on July 4. At least 40 people, including 11 police officers and one firefighter, were injured in the early morning blast, which sent flames and black smoke billowing into the sky. The explosion was powerful enough to be heard across the Italian capital shortly after 8 a.m., rattling nearby buildings and triggering evacuations. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said local police and firefighters responded immediately after receiving reports of a gas leak. Two explosions occurred after their arrival. "Local police immediately evacuated a sports center nearby, while other officers evacuated buildings on the other side of the gas station, avoiding a much more serious tragedy," Gualtieri said. Authorities said 24 residents were among the injured, including two in serious condition. They are being treated at Rome's Casilino hospital. None of the injuries to law enforcement or firefighters were life-threatening. Fifteen firefighting teams worked to control the blaze. Prosecutors have launched an investigation, focusing on a suspected gas leak during the unloading of liquefied petroleum gas. Police were praised for evacuating a nearby sports center moments after the first explosion. Several children were brought to safety just in time to avoid a second blast. "If it had happened, as I have already told everyone, half an hour later, it would have been a catastrophe," said Fabio Balzani, president of the sports center, noting the children's summer camp would have been underway by then. One resident, Barbara Belardinelli, described being caught in the second explosion after stepping outside with her daughter to investigate the noise. "As soon as we heard the second explosion, we were also hit by a ball of fire. I thought that a car near us exploded, and metal fragments were flying in the air," she said. "We felt the fire on the skin, the arm of my daughter is still red, it was horrible." Others said the blast felt like an earthquake, shattering windows and damaging homes in the surrounding area. Pope Leo XIV said he was praying for the victims of the explosion, calling it "in the heart of my Diocese." Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed support. "Thanks to the rapidity and expertise shown in the first intervention to secure and close the affected area, and the speed of the rescue, it was possible to prevent this tragic event from having even more serious consequences," Meloni said.
Observer
05-07-2025
- Observer
Dozens hurt in fuel station blast heard across Rome
ROME: A huge explosion at a petrol station in a Rome suburb on Friday injured nearly 30 people, two of them seriously and rattled windows across the Italian capital. The blast around 8:20am was preceded by a fire caused by a gas leak during refuelling, according to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, who provided the toll of injured. Gualtieri visited the charred and smoking remains of the petrol and liquified natural gas (LNG) station and an adjacent sports centre in the Prenestino neighbourhood of eastern Rome. The explosion sent a fireball and thick black smoke into the air and was heard on the other side of Rome, shaking windows and causing some residents to worry that a bomb had gone off. "The explosion was really powerful. I felt my skin burning," Michele Secu, a 23-year-old who worked at the now-destroyed sports centre, said. Before the explosion, emergency services and police were called to investigate the gas leak and had evacuated the immediate area, including a children's summer camp. Police said 10 of their officers and one member of the fire service were injured, in addition to 16 civilians, two of whom were in a serious but not life-threatening condition. Fabio Balzani, head of the sports centre, said if the fire had occurred just a bit later it could have been disastrous, with 60 children expected at the camp and around 120 people booked to use the pool. "It would have been a massacre, a catastrophe," he said. Andrea Quattrocchi, the local chief of the Carabinieri police force, said the timely intervention of his team was crucial. "They extracted a person alive from a burning car," who was taken to hospital and is in a serious but stable condition, Quattrocchi told reporters. Witnesses said an ambulance exploded in the fire. Ennio Aquilino, regional director of the Lazio fire department, said the petrol station explosion was caused by a "BLEVE" — a boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion — of the liquefied natural gas. A BLEVE is caused by the rapid vaporisation of a pressurised liquid, normally when the vessel containing it is ruptured in some way. "The effect is as if a bomb has gone off," Aquilino told reporters. He said the first call to firefighters had been for a gas leak, then shortly afterwards came the explosion. He said they did not have time to stop it, only to clear the area. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was following the situation and offered her support for all those injured. — AFP
Euronews
05-07-2025
- Euronews
Rome petrol station explosion injures 25, damages buildings and cars
An explosion on Friday at a petrol and LPG station in the neighbourhood of Centocelle in Rome's southeast injured at least 25 people, according to authorities. According to initial information from the Rome fire brigade, the accident, which occurred at around 8:20 am, was caused by a technical fault during refuelling. None of the injured are in a serious condition, authorities said. Five people were reportedly hospitalised, all with minor burns and injuries caused by shattered glass from the explosion. The blast was heard in other parts of the Italian capital, with the plume of smoke visible across the city. According to the Agi news agency, the explosion was so violent that some people inside the flats near the petrol station were also injured. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said local police and firefighters rushed to the area after being alerted to a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added. Initially, 10 people were reported injured: eight police officers, a firefighter and an emergency operator, a number which Gualtieri later said reached around 20 before the toll was updated to 25. 'There were a few chain explosions after the first one,' Elisabetta Accardo, a spokesperson for the Roman police, told Italian state broadcaster RAI. 'All the policemen injured suffered burns, but they are not in danger of life.' The shock wave caused damage to some of the surrounding buildings and vehicles, which caught fire. The flames quickly spread to a law enforcement warehouse located behind the petrol station. The area was cordoned off to facilitate safety operations, with firefighters continuing to work to extinguish the blaze under challenging conditions, as Rome remains hit by an intense heatwave that has lasted for weeks. Residents interviewed by local media said the explosion was so loud and violent that it struck nearby buildings 'like an earthquake'. The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office is awaiting the initial reports from the fire brigade and the police to open an investigation file.
Glasgow Times
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Rome petrol station explosion leaves 40 injured
The explosion was heard across the Italian capital shortly after 8am on Friday and sent up a huge cloud of dark smoke and fire that was visible from several areas of the city. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said that local police and firefighters rushed to the area after receiving a report of a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added. 'Local police immediately evacuated a sports centre nearby, while other officers evacuated buildings on the other side of the gas station, avoiding a much more serious tragedy,' Mr Gualtieri said. Residents were evacuated (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP) Elisabetta Accardo, Rome's police spokeswoman, said that 24 residents were injured, including two who were in 'severe conditions' at Rome's Casilino hospital. Eleven of the injured are from law enforcement bodies — police and carabinieri — and one is a firefighter but they are not in life-threatening conditions. Rome prosecutors have begun an investigation into the cause of the explosion, which could be related to a previous gas leak during the unloading phase of liquified petroleum gas at the station. The sports centre was evacuated swiftly by police following the first explosion, with several children brought to safety. Police said they checked the surrounding area for people who were injured or trapped in nearby buildings. Barbara Belardinelli said that she and her daughter were slightly injured when they heard the first explosion and left their home to investigate before the next explosion struck them. 'As soon as we heard the second explosion, we were also hit by a ball of fire. I thought that a car near us exploded, metal fragments were flying in the air,' she said. 'We felt the fire on the skin, the arm of my daughter is still red, it was horrible.' Other residents said the explosion was so loud and violent it struck nearby buildings 'like an earthquake', breaking windows and ripping off shutters. Pope Leo XIV said that he was praying for those affected by the explosion, which happened 'in the heart of my Diocese'. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was closely following the developments.
