USA | United states of America

Jonah Valdez
July 7 2025, 6:00 a.m.

"Agents have aimed firearms and sprayed chemical irritants at onlookers and protesters. They have launched tear gas and flash bang grenades into crowds. They have beaten the people they detain, struck them with batons, and restrained them face down in a prone position, pressing them into the pavement and restricting their abilities to breathe.

Agents often deployed these violent tactics against the targets of immigration raids — people they presumed to be undocumented immigrants. In the majority of cases reviewed for this story, federal agents used force against U.S. citizens who were attempting to document raids or intervene by putting their bodies between the agents and their neighbors. "

Pro-Palestinian student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil on Thursday began the process of suing U.S. President Donald Trump's administration for $20 million in damages for the harm he suffered as a result of the government's "politically motivated plan to unlawfully arrest, detain, and deport" him.

"This is the first step towards accountability," Khalil said in a statement. "Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss. But let's be clear, the same government that targeted me for speaking out is using taxpayer dollars to fund Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza."

"There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power," he asserted. "And I won't stop here. I will continue to pursue justice against everyone who contributed to my unlawful detention or spread lies in an attempt to destroy my reputation, including those affiliated with Columbia University. I'm holding the U.S. government accountable not just for myself, but for everyone they try to silence through fear, exile, or detention."

Last week, Miami’s city commission told those voters they’ll have to wait an extra year. In a 3-2 vote, the commission changed the city’s election bylaws to push the municipal races back to 2026.

Commissioners said they made the change in the name of cost savings and increased voter engagement when higher-profile races for Congress or the presidency may be on the ballot. But they gave themselves an extra year in office without asking voters for permission first.

The Trump administration said it deported a group of eight men convicted of serious crimes in the United States to the conflict-ridden African country of South Sudan, following a weeks-long legal saga that had kept the deportees in a military base in Djibouti for weeks.

Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the deportation flight carrying the deportees landed in South Sudan just before midnight EST on Friday. A photo provided by the department showed the deportees, with their hands and feet shackled, sitting inside an aircraft, guarded by U.S. service members.

Archived copies of the article

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Mr. Mamdani’s victory upended city politics and reverberated nationally. He relied on a memorable message, charisma and a strong ground game.

By Nicholas Fandos, Benjamin Oreskes, Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Jeffery C. Mays
July 1, 2025 Updated 3:58 p.m. ET

"Where Mr. Cuomo lectured from a distance, Mr. Mamdani took his campaign to the streets and asked questions. When other #progressives traded 10-point plans, Mr. Mamdani offered simple, concrete ideas for a city buckling under spiraling costs: free buses, child care and a rent freeze. He may have been outspent on TV and dismissed by newspaper editorial boards, but he turned his candidacy into something closer to a movement that jumped from social media to an army of volunteers."

https://archive.ph/vIw7u

Jessica Corbett
Jun 28, 2025

"As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works to deliver on Republican President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations, federal agents, including those with ICE, have taken immigrants into custody while wearing masks and plain clothes—sparking alarm over abuse by anonymous agents and also copycat criminals.

Velázquez's bill would bar ICE agents from wearing facial coverings during immigration enforcement, unless medically necessary or required for safety. It would also require written justification for any mask use, agents to wear clothing displaying their name and affiliation with ICE, and DHS to report annually to Congress on any related complaints and disciplinary actions."

The US supreme court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization.

The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. Medicaid is the US government’s main health insurance program for low-income people. About 80 million people rely on it.

Further | Abby Zimet
Jun 25, 2025

"New war hysteria looms, yet still armed, masked, unnamed stormtroopers roam the land, keeping us safe from "the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals" by abducting nefarious landscapers, car wash workers, Wal Mart greeters, tamale makers, swap meet fans and distraught mothers of children with cancer. As glorified "state-sanctioned intimidation" turns some terrified Latino neighborhoods into ghost towns, "Day by passing day, we are watching what amounts to a national police riot by ICE. " [...] "Starting years ago with a heinous orange guy pronouncing all #Mexicans rapists and murderers, it keeps getting worse as guard rails drop. His marauding agents of chaos can now go after frightened targets in once-safe spaces: schools, courts, hospitals, places of worship."

A 21-year-old Norwegian tourist claims he was denied entry to the United States and harassed by ICE agents after they discovered a JD Vance meme on his phone.

Mads Mikkelsen arrived at New Jersey's Newark Airport on June 11 when he was pulled aside by border control and placed in a cell, he told Norwegian outlet Nordlys. Mads was travelling to the States to visit friends, first in New York and then in Austin, Texas, but suffered "harassment and abuse of power" at the hands of US immigration authorities.

"I felt prejudiced, suspected and simply humiliated even then, in front of many other people at the airport," The Tromsø native recounted. "They took me to a room with several armed guards, where I had to hand over my shoes, mobile phone and backpack."

Release.

The San Francisco Police Commission unanimously accepted a nearly $9.4 million donation Wednesday night to expand the police department’s drone program and add 10 new drone take-off sites.

“This is by far the largest one-time donation I think we’ve ever considered,” said police commissioner Kevin Benedicto. The Board of Supervisors will vote on the gift later this month.

The donation was proposed last week by Ripple Labs, a San Francisco-based crypto company run by billionaire Chris Larsen, and the San Francisco Police Community Foundation, a nonprofit that Larsen founded in 2023. Larsen has been a long-time proponent of increasing the SFPD’s use of technology and donated $250,000 to the passing of Prop E.