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  • 'Change is necessary': Coast Guard pledges reforms after mishandling reports of sexual assault | CNN Politics

    'Change is necessary': Coast Guard pledges reforms after mishandling reports of sexual assault | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Coast Guard, rocked by allegations that its leaders for years concealed damning information about sexual assaults and other serious misconduct, released a highly critical report Wednesday acknowledging it had “failed to keep our people safe,” while vowing to make reforms that would better protect them.

    After spending 90 days speaking with hundreds of service members, reading through more than 170 written comments and “sifting through a mountain of data,” an internal review team said it had heard a resounding message from the workforce that “these failures and lack of accountability are entirely unacceptable” and that leaders “must do something about it.”

    “Too many Coast Guard members are not experiencing the safe, empowering workplace they expect and deserve (and) trust in Coast Guard leadership is eroding,” the authors wrote in the roughly 100-page report, noting that they had heard from victims of sexual assault and harassment stretching from the 1960s to the current day who “expressed deep rooted feelings of pain and a loss of trust in the organization.”

    The scathing internal review was launched after CNN exposed a secret criminal investigation, dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor, which found that serious misconduct had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials. It wasn’t until CNN started asking questions about Fouled Anchor this spring that Coast Guard leaders rushed to officially brief Congress on the scandal — leading to outrage on both sides of the aisle, multiple government investigations and proposed legislation.

    CNN’s coverage of Fouled Anchor and subsequent reporting revealing that Coast Guard leaders declined to prosecute a retired officer for sexual misconduct “have led people to experience feelings ranging from disappointment to outrage,” the report said.

    “For so many victims, there are even deeper levels of broken trust: in leaders who failed them in preventing and responding to sexual violence; in a military justice system with antiquated legal definitions of rape; in non-existent support programs for those impacted prior to 2000,” it stated. While the report outlined a number of changes made in the last two decades, it also acknowledged that reforms to date have not been enough to prevent assaults and properly support victims.

    The review did not seek to hold past perpetrators or officials involved with the Fouled Anchor cover-up accountable, saying multiple government investigations launched by Congress remained ongoing.

    Instead, it looked to the future and focused on preventing future assaults and other misconduct, describing the report as a “road map aimed at improving” the agency’s culture.

    Along with the report’s findings, the Coast Guard announced a series of actions directed by the agency’s leader, Commandant Linda Fagan, through recommended changes to everything from training and victim support services to strengthening processes for holding perpetrators accountable.

    “This report acknowledges the Coast Guard’s failures and uses them to inform a way ahead, rebuild trust, and set the baseline for organizational growth,” the document states, noting that many of the actions require additional funding and authority to implement.

    Among the reforms are the creation of a mentorship program for victims to help them navigate the aftermath of a sexual assault, the development of a “safe to report” policy so that victims are not penalized for collateral minor misconduct (such as alcohol use at the time of an incident), more secure locks on Coast Guard Academy bedrooms and improved oversight of the school and its cadets – including a new chain of command for the academy head.

    Fagan also directed officials to better keep tabs on the academy’s hallmark “Swab Summer” training program, which is run by upperclassmen at the academy, and to consider strengthening policies that allow the agency to reduce pension payments for those found to have committed misconduct.

    The report was the Coast Guard’s most expansive response to the growing criticism of its handling of misconduct. And while it was being released publicly, and members of Congress had been briefed on its contents earlier, the report was specifically addressed to “U.S. Coast Guard workforce, past and present.”

    “You made it clear that you want and expect our Service to confront this issue and make it better. You want our Service to deliver meaningful change,” the report stated. “Whether you’re a member who has a story to share — or the shipmate standing beside them — this is our time. Let’s get it right.”

    While the Coast Guard is focused on the future, members of Congress are still determined to get answers about past failures as well.

    “This new report still does not hold anyone accountable for past failures—particularly those at the Coast Guard Academy,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, where the Coast Guard Academy is located. Murphy and other lawmakers have continued to slam the agency for its failure to be transparent about sexual assault and other misconduct. “It does lay out a modest plan to improve oversight, training, and support for survivors, but a report is nothing more than paper until concrete steps are taken.”

    Democratic Senators Maria Cantwell and Richard Blumenthal also criticized how, despite calling this effort an “accountability” review, the Coast Guard still failed to hold anyone to task for the mishandling of sexual assault cases. Cantwell reiterated the importance of an independent investigation, saying she is looking forward to seeing the results of the probe currently being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

    Earlier this year, CNN reported how former Commandant Karl Schultz and his second-in-command, Vice Commandant Charles Ray, failed to act on plans to share the findings of Fouled Anchor with Congress and the public. Ray resigned from his position at a Coast Guard Academy leadership institute soon after, but no other current or former Coast Guard officials have publicly faced any consequences.

    “Current Coast Guard personnel are being told to trust their leadership, but their leaders aren’t holding predecessors accountable,” K. Denise Rucker Krepp, a former Coast Guard officer and former chief counsel of the Maritime Administration wrote in a recent letter to Congress, describing how she had attended a “community healing” event sponsored by the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association last month.

    “Before my first cup of coffee I learned about a woman who was raped shortly after joining the service. She never told her parents about the crime,” she wrote. “While washing my hands in the bathroom, another woman shared that she was raped while attending the Coast Guard Academy in the late 1990s. Another woman shared that she was gang-raped by three students at the school and had spent two-thirds of her life on medication because of the crimes that occurred almost 40 years ago.”

    Next week, more survivors of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy are slated to share their experiences publicly in a Congressional hearing. The hearing, announced just yesterday, is part of an ongoing Senate probe launched in reaction to the Fouled Anchor cover-up.

    Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard past or present? Email melanie.hicken@cnn.com and Blake.Ellis@cnn.com.

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  • ‘This isn’t some random dude with a duffel bag’: To catch fentanyl traffickers, feds dig into crypto markets | CNN Politics

    ‘This isn’t some random dude with a duffel bag’: To catch fentanyl traffickers, feds dig into crypto markets | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The Biden administration has intensified its focus on tracing cryptocurrency payments that some of the most dangerous Mexican drug cartels use to buy fentanyl ingredients from Chinese chemical companies, the latest step in a renewed attempt to crack down on the multibillion-dollar fentanyl trade that kills thousands of Americans each year.

    The use of digital currency has exploded among fentanyl traffickers, with transactions for fentanyl ingredients surging 450% in the last year through April, according to data from private crypto-tracking analysis firm Elliptic.

    Federal agents are doing everything they can to catch up. While US diplomats have made fentanyl a point of emphasis in high-level talks with Mexican and Chinese counterparts, behind the scenes, a multi-agency effort is underway to keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of how fentanyl is financed and trafficked into the US. The work goes beyond the cartels to include tracking dark-web forums where Americans buy fentanyl.

    Current and former law enforcement officials from across the federal government described to CNN the digital-first tactics the administration is developing to disrupt the fentanyl trade.

    The Drug Enforcement Agency is investing in crypto-tracing software and identifying the cartels’ most sophisticated money launderers. The IRS has its most tech-savvy agents tracing payments on dark web forums. And a Department of Homeland Security investigations unit is leading a team of forensic specialists to pore over digital clues from stash houses near the Mexican border.

    Federal agents have been tracking the cartels’ finances and supply routes for years, but DHS, in particular, has ramped up its surveillance efforts in recent weeks, multiple US officials told CNN.

    There have been some notable busts recently, including nearly five tons of fentanyl seized this spring along the border. But there is still a lot of work left to do, officials caution, and the impact of the current surge may not be felt for months down the road.

    Agents have focused on the activities of two Mexican cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which officials say account for the majority of fentanyl on US streets. Sinaloa Cartel, in particular, has developed sophisticated crypto operations to finance its fentanyl business.

    “We’re dealing with a Fortune 50 company, which is what the Sinaloa Cartel is,” a US official with knowledge of the matter told CNN. “This isn’t some random dude with a duffel bag” selling fentanyl in daylight.

    Cryptocurrency has enhanced cartels’ ability to smuggle fentanyl into the US by allowing them to move vast sums of money instantaneously across a decentralized, digital banking system – all without having to deal with actual banks.

    “The speed the criminals can muster, it’s very hard for law enforcement to keep up,” said one top DEA official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity to describe the agency’s counter-narcotics work.

    Cash is still king for the cartels and often preferred for local operations. But the expanded use of digital currency at both the supply and demand ends of the drug trade has made some traditional law enforcement methods obsolete. For example, drug dealers might hold fewer in-person meetings to hand over cash, reducing the opportunities for stakeouts by federal agents, said Jarod Koopman, head of the IRS’s Cyber and Forensics Services division.

    Cryptocurrency “eliminates the potential for hand-to-hand transactions,” said Koopman, whose team focuses on illicit financial flows, including dark-web purchases that are multiple steps removed from when the cartels get the drugs over the US border. “So now it’s … in a different world where some of the contacts might be online and we’re trying to facilitate or do transactions in a different manner.”

    But digital money also leaves a trail that investigators can follow.

    Federal agents have found cryptocurrency addresses written down on scraps of paper at stash houses in Arizona, Scott Brown, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in that state, told CNN.

    In another case, DHS agents monitored a cartel-connected crypto account for over a year until it sent $200,000 to an accountant they were using to launder money, Brown said. After the accountant used the money to buy property in the US, federal agents are working to seize the property, he said.

    A “significant portion” of fentanyl is sold over the dark web and paid for in cryptocurrency, Brown said, adding: “That is a vulnerability that we can attack much like we attack the money movements in a traditional narcotics investigation.”

    Most of the fentanyl that enters the US comes from ingredients made in China that are then pressed into pills – or packed in powder – and smuggled in from Mexico by drug cartels, according to the DEA.

    A US indictment unsealed in June illustrates the scope of the problem. Just one Chinese chemical company allegedly shipped more than 440 pounds of fentanyl to undercover DEA agents in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency. It was enough drugs to kill 25 million Americans, according to prosecutors.

    The two cartels, Sinaloa and CJNG, have used their control of the fentanyl trade to develop sophisticated money-laundering techniques that exploit cryptocurrency, according to US officials.

    “We’ve identified people in the cartels that specialize in cryptocurrency movements,” the senior DEA official told CNN, describing longstanding efforts to surveil both the cartels.

    The Sinaloa Cartel has made hundreds of millions of dollars from the fentanyl trade, according to the Justice Department. Run by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the cartel has allegedly used airplanes, submarines, fishing boats and tractor trailers to transport fentanyl chemicals and other drugs. Four of the “Chapitos,” as Guzmán’s sons are known, are under indictment in the US for fentanyl trafficking, money laundering and weapons charges.

    With their father in jail, the younger generation of Sinaloa leaders is making more of an effort to cover their tracks and avoid law enforcement scrutiny, including by using cryptocurrency, the senior DEA official told CNN.

    In one case, the Sinaloa Cartel laundered more than $869,000 using cryptocurrency between August 2022 and February 2023, according to a US indictment unsealed in April. But that was likely just a fraction of the Sinaloa money laundered during that time, based on the huge profits the cartel has made in recent years.

    The scheme involved two of the cartel’s top money launderers directing US-based couriers to pick up cash from fentanyl traffickers and deposit the money to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by the cartel, the indictment said.

    “Not every seizure is going to get you to Chapo Guzman,” said Brown, the DHS official in Arizona. “It’s certainly more impactful when we can go after the people that are behind the production of the drugs, behind the production of the precursors, behind the movement of the money, behind running the transportation cells.”

    That’s why Brown and his colleagues are trying to make the most of a huge series of fentanyl busts in Arizona and California this spring, when agents seized nearly five tons of the deadly drug, worth over $100 million.

    Evidence was quickly shipped to a forensics lab in Northern Virginia, where DHS analysts hunted for digital clues – things like a common cell phone number called by drug runners near border towns or, better yet, a cryptocurrency account connected to one of the Mexican cartels, according to Brown.

    Based in Phoenix, Brown’s office oversees a recently announced federal task force that aims to thwart drug sales online by infiltrating dark-web forums and tracking crypto payments. The goal is to find “another vulnerability [in] the larger cartel infrastructure” that agents can attack, he said.

    The cartels “are very willing to invest in technology,” Brown said. “That’s one of the things that we need to be equally willing to do.”

    Crypto-based transactions can be traced publicly, giving US officials a much clearer picture of the Mexican cartels’ reliance on Chinese chemical companies to produce fentanyl.

    The Chinese government banned the sale of fentanyl in 2019. But Chinese chemical companies have since shifted to making fentanyl ingredients instead of the finished product, according to US officials and outside experts.

    A recent CNN investigation dug into the activities of US-sanctioned Chinese chemical companies that advertise fentanyl ingredients. When one sanctioned company shut down, another company launched, and told CNN it purchased the sanctioned company’s email, phone number and Facebook page to “attract internet traffic.”

    While the amount of fentanyl directly mailed to the US from China fell dramatically following the 2019 Chinese ban, according to a Brookings Institution study, US officials say Chinese companies are still producing and exporting large quantities of fentanyl ingredients.

    This January 2019 photo shows a display of fentanyl and meth that was seized by federal officers at the Nogales Port of Entry.

    Chinese companies selling ingredients to make fentanyl have received cryptocurrency payments worth tens of millions of dollars over the last five years, enough to potentially produce billions of dollars’ worth of fentanyl sold in the US and other markets, according to research from crypto-tracking firms.

    One of the firms, London-based Elliptic, found 100 China-based chemical companies touting fentanyl, fentanyl ingredients or equipment to make the drugs that accepted payments in cryptocurrency.

    Elliptic didn’t identify any cartel-controlled crypto accounts that sent money to the Chinese companies. That could be due to the cartels’ use of middlemen to buy ingredients and the fact that fentanyl traffickers in Europe also buy from the Chinese companies, according to US officials and cryptocurrency experts interviewed by CNN

    But that data is still only a partial picture of the problem. The Chinese chemicals industry is worth over a trillion dollars, according to some estimates, and comprises tens of thousands of companies, most of them doing legitimate business.

    “It’s impossible to know how many of [those companies] are actually sending chemicals over” to the US that can be used to make fentanyl, a former DEA agent who worked in Mexico told CNN. The former agent spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

    Barring more cooperation from the Chinese government on the issue, which US officials say has been limited, the Biden administration has sanctioned and secured federal indictments against several Chinese companies allegedly involved in the production of fentanyl. Federal agents, meanwhile, follow the money and look for opportunities to seize it.

    “You can at least try to pinch off the financial flow to [the Chinese companies] and then … follow that money trail to whether it’s the Mexican cartels or if it’s in Guatemala or other places, for the actual supply,” Koopman told CNN.

    Cryptocurrency has also allowed cartels to diversify the way they move money around the world. The cartels have a network of money launderers in dozens of countries, from Thailand to Colombia, the senior DEA official said.

    These money launderers, known as “spinners,” might receive drug money in one type of cryptocurrency and convert it to another to try to obscure the source of the funds.

    “They might take Bitcoin and then buy Ethereum with it, and then send the Ethereum to the cartel members,” the senior DEA official said, referring to different types of cryptocurrencies. “The cartels have insulated themselves so they’re not receiving the cryptocurrency directly.”

    The cartels also use “mixing” services, or publicly available cryptocurrency tools, to try to obscure the source of their digital money, the DEA official said. That process is also favored by North Korean hackers who launder stolen cryptocurrency to support Pyongyang’s weapons program, CNN investigations have found.

    The volatility of cryptocurrency means the cartels often quickly look to convert their crypto to cash by moving it through a series of virtual currencies, the senior DEA official told CNN.

    But there are moments in the laundering process where federal agents can strike. A cryptocurrency exchange serving a customer in Mexico might be headquartered in the US, allowing federal agents to issue a subpoena and potentially seize money.

    For Brown, the DHS agent in Arizona, the issue is personal: one of his employees had a family member who died of a fentanyl overdose after buying the drug online , he said.

    “My people are burned out, and yet they come to work and work exceedingly hard every day,” Brown told CNN.

    But he’s optimistic when the subject turns to high-tech methods to hunt the cartels.

    “Are they as anonymous as they think they are? Absolutely … not.”

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  • Migrant who died in ICE custody was held for months, despite recommendation for release, SPLC says | CNN

    Migrant who died in ICE custody was held for months, despite recommendation for release, SPLC says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Nicaraguan national who died last week in federal immigration custody had spent more than one year in detention. Despite having been recommended for release more than seven months ago, he continued to be held in immigration custody, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

    Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra, 42, died last Friday. His preliminary cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    In November 2022, an ICE panel recommended Rocha-Cuadra be released from custody, but officials at the facility declined to release him, a statement from the SPLC said.

    “The details leading up to this tragic death are still unclear, and his attorneys say Ernesto never mentioned having, nor did his medical records reflect, any heart-related medical issues,” a statement from the SPLC said.

    The SPLC said Rocha-Cuadra’s death was the fifth since 2016 at ICE’s facility in Jena, Louisiana.

    “For years, the New Orleans ICE Field Office (“NOLA ICE”) and private prison officials have demonstrated a disturbing pattern of deadly medical neglect against the immigrants detained under their authority, disregarding their constitutional rights and engaging in other human rights abuses and violations,” the SPLC said.

    Rocha-Cuadra had been scheduled for an immigration hearing on July 9, according to a statement his family.

    In a written statement to the press, Rocha-Cuadra’s brother joined a chorus of immigration rights advocates calling for the ICE facility to be investigated.

    “He was guaranteed he was coming home. Our message is, we want to know what happened to our Ernesto and we will not stop until we find out,” his brother, Frank Rocha-Cuadra, said.

    Rocha-Cuadra had been in immigration custody after crossing the border illegally near Andrade, California, on April 17, 2022, according to a statement from ICE earlier this week.

    “ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments,” it said in the statement. “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”

    “All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergent care,” the statement said.

    CNN has reached out to ICE for further comment about Rocha-Cuadra’s death.

    ICE’s Central Louisiana processing center in Jena, Louisiana, is privately owned by the GEO Group Inc.

    In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the GEO Group said, “We are unable to provide comment regarding specific cases related to individuals in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Healthcare services at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center are provided directly by the federal government through the ICE Health Services Corps.”

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  • Thousands of Americans are leaving homes in flood-risk areas. But where are they moving to? | CNN

    Thousands of Americans are leaving homes in flood-risk areas. But where are they moving to? | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For more than four decades, the US government has been paying cities and states to move homeowners away from areas that are at high risk of severe flooding.

    When a hurricane or major flooding event devastates an area, a neighborhood can send a request for the local or state government to buy the impacted land and give residents money to start over someplace else.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s buyout program is a form of so-called “managed retreat” – a long process that relocates people, businesses, homes and infrastructure to an area that’s safer from the impacts of climate change-fueled weather events. But until recently, little was known about where people ultimately moved and whether their new location actually reduced their flood risk.

    A new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters — which coincides with a managed retreat conference unfolding in New York City this week — provides a clearer picture of these home buyouts.

    Data from thousands of home buyouts shows people aren’t moving that far from their original homes — and often they are moving within the same floodplain. But overall, their risk of flooding decreased after the move, a nod to the program’s success. Researchers also found that race has played a role in who is moving and where they’re relocating to.

    “As climate change and rising insurance costs increase the pressures to retreat from the coast and flooded areas, we need to pay more attention to where people are going,” James Elliott, a professor of sociology at Rice University and a co-author on the study, told CNN.

    The findings “point to how the program plays out differently in different types of communities and neighborhoods across the country,” he said.

    Using flood risk estimates, housing values, race and income data from the US Census Bureau, and FEMA relocation data between 1990 and 2017, researchers from Rice University built a nationwide database to map out where nearly 10,000 Americans sold their flood-prone homes and where they moved.

    They found people who have taken advantage of the FEMA buyouts typically did not move that far to reduce their risk, and usually stayed within the same floodplain.

    On average, buyout participants reduced their future flood risk by up to 65%, Elliott said. The average driving distance between their former homes and their new ones was around seven miles, with almost 74% of homeowners remaining within 20 miles of their old, flood-damaged homes.

    The findings were also racially segmented, Elliot said. About 96% of homeowners who relocated from a predominantly White neighborhood ended up moving to another majority White community.

    In contrast, residents of predominantly Black and Hispanic communities were far more likely to relocate to a new neighborhood with a different demographic: Only 48 percent of Black homeowners who go through the buyout moved to predominantly Black neighborhoods.

    The study also found that buyout areas with predominantly White homeowners had a nearly 90% chance of flooding by 2050, while majority-Black buyout areas had a roughly 50% chance, suggesting that White residents tend to only participate in buyouts when flood risk is much more intense.

    Though the data suggests that homeowners in White neighborhoods have a higher tolerance for flood risk, 80% of the people who took advantage of the FEMA program previously lived in majority-White neighborhoods. This could be because White communities “are more successful at winning the opportunity and money to participate” in the FEMA program, Elliott said.

    The home buyout program, which is the largest managed-retreat initiative in the country so far, is “disproportionately targeted toward Whiter residential areas,” Elliott said.

    “Communities of color and lower income areas just have fewer options to move nearby, so they are less likely to participate in the managed buyout,” Elliott said. In Houston, he found in a previous study that most of the people participating in buyouts in racially diverse communities tend to be White homeowners.

    “It’s sort of the last wave of White flight in those neighborhoods,” he added. And when “flood risks come, the final White residents begin to pull up stakes through the buyout program and move further out.”

    Alexander de Sherbinin, a senior research scientist at the Columbia Climate School and deputy manager of NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, said it’s not clear from the study that White homeowners are reluctant to move to racially diverse neighborhoods, and noted that there is evidence to the contrary.

    De Sherbinin pointed out that there is a process of “climate gentrification” playing out in areas that have experienced climate disasters, “whereby more affluent households are moving into ethnically diverse neighborhoods that are less at risk of flooding, and are even displacing local residents.”

    He pointed to Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood as an example of this phenomenon, where higher ground helps protect the neighborhood from sea level rise and higher storm surges.

    “The research findings make sense in one regard, which is that whiter, more affluent neighborhoods are more likely to have the insurance coverage and resources to stay in place, despite rising risks,” de Sherbinin told CNN. “In other words, they’re able to rebuild, and possibly accommodate risks by raising their houses above flood lines.”

    As the climate crisis advances, more homeowners and businesses will be forced to relocate, adding stress and vulnerability to new regions. Previous research has shown that climate migration will become more likely as the planet warms and people seek places they consider safer and more stable.

    “We really need to think about how people relocate locally, what the options are, and how the ongoing racial segregation, especially in urban environments, is affecting those local retreats and people’s decisions and abilities not to retreat, because all we see are the people who actually say yes to the program,” Elliott said.

    “That’s the classic thing with climate change — it’s not about ‘if’ people have to move from these places, but ‘when and how’.”

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  • Patriots’ Jack Jones arrested after two loaded guns found in carry-on luggage, police say | CNN

    Patriots’ Jack Jones arrested after two loaded guns found in carry-on luggage, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    New England Patriots cornerback Jack Jones was arrested Friday at Boston Logan International Airport after two firearms were discovered in his carry-on luggage, according to Massachusetts State Police.

    The Transportation Security Administration issued a press release saying TSA officers had found two loaded firearms and ammunition in a Los Angeles-bound male passenger’s luggage.

    The TSA, which did not identify the passenger, said it notified police after detecting the weapons “during the routine X-ray screening of carry-on luggage at the airport’s security checkpoint.”

    Police said Jones was charged with two counts each of the following offenses: possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm, and possession of a large-capacity feeding device.

    Under Massachusetts law, any magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition is considered “large capacity.”

    Jones’ bail was set at $50,000. It was lowered to $30,000, which Jones posted, police say.

    He was released from custody and is scheduled to be arraigned in East Boston District Court next week.

    CNN has reached out to Jones’ representatives for comment.

    The Patriots confirmed the arrest in a statement, saying, “We have been notified that Jack Jones was arrested at Logan Airport earlier yesterday. We are in the process of gathering more information and will not be commenting further at this time.”

    New England selected the cornerback out of Arizona State University in the fourth round (121st overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft.

    In his rookie season, Jones had 30 combined tackles and two interceptions in 13 games.

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  • 8-year-old migrant girl who died in US Border Patrol custody was treated for flu several days before her death, authorities say | CNN

    8-year-old migrant girl who died in US Border Patrol custody was treated for flu several days before her death, authorities say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    An 8-year-old migrant girl who died in the custody of US immigration authorities last week was treated for flu-like symptoms for several days prior to her death at a Texas hospital, according to authorities.

    The girl, Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, a citizen of Panama, died Wednesday in a Harlingen, Texas, hospital, just eight days after her family was taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection in Brownsville, Texas, the agency said in a news release Sunday. Members of her family, including her parents and two siblings, are all citizens of Honduras, says the news release.

    According to CBP records, Reyes was medically assessed on May 10 and did not complain of any illnesses or injuries at the time. However, her family did report a medical history, including chronic conditions of sickle cell anemia and heart disease, according to the news release.

    It was not until four days later, on May 14, that Reyes’ mother took her to a treatment area after the girl complained of abdominal pain, nasal congestion and a cough, the release says. At the time, Reyes tested positive for Influenza A and was given several medications, including Tamiflu and Zofran. CBP says she was also given acetaminophen and ibuprofen. She had a temperature of 101.8 degrees, according to the release.

    The girl and her family were then taken to the US Border Patrol Station in Harlingen, per agency protocols, CBP said. The Harlingen station is “designated for cases requiring medical isolation for individuals diagnosed with or closely exposed to communicable diseases,” CBP said in the release.

    The girl was again assessed by medical personnel after she and her family arrived in Harlingen on May 14. She was given medication for three days, the agency said.

    CBP said medical records show Reyes’ mother brought her to the Harlingen medical unit three times on Wednesday. During the first visit, the girl had complained of vomiting, was given Zofran and instructed to hydrate and return as needed.

    During the second visit, Reyes complained of stomach pains, according to the release. CBP medical personnel wrote in their records that she was stable and instructed her mother to follow up if needed, the release said.

    Reyes’ mother brought her daughter to the medical unit for the third time around 1:55 p.m. CT, according to the release. She was carrying her daughter, who seemed to be having a seizure and then became unresponsive. Medical personnel gave the girl CPR and called for emergency medical help, CBP said.

    Emergency medical personnel took the girl and her mother to the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen. Reyes was pronounced dead less than an hour later, at 2:50 p.m. CT, the release said.

    An autopsy was performed on the girl by the Cameron County Medical Examiner’s office Friday but an exact cause and manner of death is still pending, according to the release.

    In a statement released Sunday, CBP acting commissioner Troy Miller said “we are deeply saddened by the tragic death” and announced a series of actions intended to “reinforce existing policies and continue to ensure appropriate care for all medically fragile individuals.”

    The agency has reviewed and will continue reviewing cases of “all known medically fragile individuals” in custody and, along with the agency’s medical services contractor, will review services rendered to in-custody individuals, “especially those who are medically at-risk,” Miller says in the statement.

    “The Department of Homeland Security’s Chief Medical Officer will immediately initiate a review of medical care practices at CBP facilities and ensure the deployment of additional medical personnel as needed,” says Miller.

    He added that CBP would make the results of the investigation public.

    The girl’s parents have been released from immigration custody and will be headed to New York to meet up with family, the Honduran Foreign Ministry previously told CNN.

    Once in New York, the family plans to attend their immigration court hearings and request asylum, according to the ministry.

    The Honduran Foreign Ministry is working to help the Reyes family with the transfer of their daughter’s body to New York, where she will likely be buried, the ministry said.

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  • 8-year-old girl dies in US Customs and Border Protection custody | CNN

    8-year-old girl dies in US Customs and Border Protection custody | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    An 8-year-old girl died while in US Customs and Border Protection custody in Harlingen, Texas, the agency said Wednesday.

    The girl and her family were in custody at a CBP facility when she “experienced a medical emergency,” the agency said in a news release Wednesday night, without providing details.

    “Emergency Medical Services were called to the station and transported her to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead,” the release said.

    The Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating her death, as is consistent with protocol, CBP officials said.

    The child’s death comes days after an unaccompanied Honduran 17-year-old housed at a Florida shelter died while under the care of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to a congressional notice obtained by CNN last week.

    Last week, immigration officials said in a court filing that surging migration coupled with the termination of Title 42 “is overwhelming U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, risking widespread health and safety risks to migrants, government employees, and the public.”

    Detention facilities along the US-Mexico border surpassed capacity after an uptick in migrant crossings ahead of the expiration of Title 42, a Covid-era border restriction that was lifted last week.

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  • New York City mayor announces plan to transport willing migrants to locations outside the city ahead of expected surge | CNN

    New York City mayor announces plan to transport willing migrants to locations outside the city ahead of expected surge | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday the city will ship willing migrants to other neighboring New York communities ahead of a surge of migrants expected to arrive in the city following the expiration of Title 42 next week.

    Adams said the new program “will provide up to four months of temporary sheltering in nearby New York counties, outside of New York City, to single-adult men seeking asylum who are already in the city’s care.”

    The program will launch with two hotels located in the small hamlets of Orange Lake and Orangeburg, with the potential to expand, the mayor said. Adams’ spokesperson, Fabien Levy, told CNN there is capacity for up to three hundred migrants between the two hotels initially, with the potential to “expand.”

    Orange Lake is a hamlet in Orange County in upstate New York. The population was 9,770 at the 2020 Census. Orangeburg is a hamlet in the town of Orangetown in New York’s Rockland County, where around 4,600 people live, according to Census data.

    “Despite calling on the federal government for a national decompression strategy since last year, and for a decompression strategy across the state, New York City has been left without the necessary support to manage this crisis,” Adams said. “With a vacuum of leadership, we are now being forced to undertake our own decompression strategy.”

    Adams said the mayors and county executives in both areas have been notified. CNN has reached out to local leaders in both Orange Lake and Orangeburg for their response to the mayor’s plan. CNN has also asked New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for her response to the mayor’s plan to transport migrants outside the city.

    The announcement comes on the heels of an internal briefing memo obtained and first reported by CNN that shed light on a variety of options city officials were weighing to help weather the expected surge.

    Tents in Central Park, a retrofitted airplane hangar at John F. Kennedy Airport and building temporary tiny homes were some of the options noted in the memo, which says the city is anticipating 800 migrants will arrive in the city every day from the southern border after Title 42 is scheduled to lift Thursday. Since last spring, the city has processed tens of thousands of migrants and a total of 37,500 people are currently in the city’s care, the memo says.

    The 5-page draft memo, which outlines the city’s needs and possible “solutions,” says New York City is already seeing an increase in arrivals. On Wednesday alone, officials recorded approximately 500 arrivals. Title 42, the pandemic-era rule that allows immigration agents to swiftly return migrants to Mexico, is scheduled to end on May 11.

    US Customs and Border Protection officials already have seen an uptick in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border in anticipation of the expiration of Title 42, CNN has reported. There have been around 7,000 daily encounters on the US southern border in recent days, a number expected to rise in the coming weeks.

    CNN spoke with three different sources in Adams’ administration who confirmed the authenticity of the planning document. A fourth source at one of the city agencies that would be tasked with helping to set up shelter and other resources for migrants, confirmed the agency had reviewed the memo. The document details a series of potential options the Adams administration is exploring that are not yet finalized, the sources explained to CNN.

    The document outlines possible locations for housing migrants at existing buildings including the campuses of York and Medgar Evers colleges; the YMCA at the Park Slope Armory in Brooklyn; and at a massive 135,000 square foot recreation center in Staten Island.

    Listed as another possible “solution” is a proposal to retrofit unused airplane hangars at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which would require help from the state and the Port Authority, which operates the airport, to build out “dormitory style residential services.”

    Parking lots at the Mets baseball stadium at Citi Field is one of the places being considered to house migrants ahead of an expected surge.

    According to the document, the Adams administration is also considering erecting tents in the city’s public parks and public parking lots. The memo lists Central Park, Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens as possible options. The parking lots at Citi Field – the home of the New York Mets – and the Aqueduct Racetrack are also on the list of possible options. Coney Island and Orchard Beach, visited by hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in the summer months, are also listed as options.

    Levy, Adams’ spokesperson, declined to comment on the specific proposals outlined in the document but told CNN, “While we do not discuss internal deliberations, we’ve been clear that the burden of caring for asylum seekers shouldn’t fall on any one city alone.”

    Levy told CNN the city resorted to housing migrants who arrived this week in “old NYPD training gyms” after running out of shelter space.

    “We have reached our limit of new shelters that we can open right now, and we currently have no other option but to temporarily house recent arrivals in gyms,” Levy said. “This week alone, we received hundreds of asylum seekers every day, and with Title 42 set to be lifted next week, we expect more to arrive in our city daily. We are considering a multitude of options, but, as we’ve been saying for a year, we desperately need federal and state support to manage this crisis,” he said.

    Building structures in public places such as the city’s parks is likely to face fierce criticism from local officials and advocates who have at times been critical of the city’s response to the migrant crisis. In the last year, as he has struggled to respond to the needs of arriving migrants, Adams has said the city’s budget would be affected. He said it might be necessary to cut back on social and municipal services for residents in order to meet the need. New York City officials project they will spend $4.3 billion on the influx of migrants by the end of June 2024.

    Included in its list of possible solutions, the memo also details a proposal to erect “temporary housing in containers or tiny homes.” The document references similar models used in New Jersey and London to serve homeless populations there.

    The memo also lists options the city has previously used or considered using in the last year, including erecting tents on Randall’s Island, and using cruise ships to house migrants.

    An administration official who would only speak on background, because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said, “all of these items are being discussed. While we may not yet know what may come to fruition, we have to let New Yorkers know that all options are on the table, especially given the fact that more than 60,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since last year.”

    Adams has repeatedly requested aid from Washington, saying migrant arrivals in New York City and other major cities in the northeast equate to a humanitarian crisis that should be handled by the federal government. Adams continues to criticize the Biden administration, saying the federal government has “abandoned” the city to deal with the migrant crisis on its own.

    “New York has received the brunt, close to 60,000 of those who are coming to the city to participate in the American Dream and we’re not giving them the resources,” the mayor said Thursday during an unrelated event.

    Adams also recently said the financial burden of the migrant crisis is “decimating the foundation of our city” and has said every municipal service in New York City will be impacted.

    On Friday, some city officials voiced their disappointment after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded $30.5 million dollars in humanitarian aid funding – only a fraction of the amount that the city requested in March.

    “Despite the City’s $350 million request, FEMA’s initial grant provides a paltry $30.5 million, which is not anywhere close to enough to cover the cost of assistance for asylum seekers,” said a joint statement from New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Finance Chair Justin Brannan.

    US Rep. Dan Goldman called the allocation of funds from FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program “woefully insufficient,” adding that he vows to continue to work with his colleagues and the Adams administration to push for “sufficient” federal funding.

    “New York has spent more than $1 billion to support the more than 60,000 migrants that have come to our city seeking a better life, yet FEMA has allotted only $30.5 million to New York City to contribute to this expense,” Goldman said in a statement Friday. “It is incumbent on the federal government to pay its fair share for these unexpected immigration-related expenses.”

    The Department of Homeland Security announced the allocation of the humanitarian support in a statement and named Texas and California as the top three recipients.

    “This first round of funding was focused primarily on the needs of border communities due to the urgencies they are confronting,” the department said. “Several interior cities also received funding. The City of New York received the most of any interior city by a significant margin given its challenges.”

    The department says it will award “approximately $360 million in additional funds through the new Shelter and Services Grant Program” later this fiscal year.

    CNN has reached out to Mayor Adams’ office for comment.

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  • Jordan subpoenas CDC, other federal agencies over censorship concerns | CNN Politics

    Jordan subpoenas CDC, other federal agencies over censorship concerns | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The House Judiciary Committee has sent subpoenas to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Global Engagement Center for documents as it continues to investigate whether the federal government pressured social media companies to censor certain viewpoints.

    The subpoenas mark an escalation in the panel’s inquiry, as House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan described the agencies responses to previous voluntary request in March as “inadequate” in the subpoena cover letter and said that none of the agencies have produced any documents responding to previous requests to date.

    Jordan, a Republican, has long claimed that the federal government and big tech companies have been “weaponized” against conservatives, and leads a subcommittee on that topic.

    The subpoena letters do not list any specific allegations the committee is investigating but raises the concern over censorship more broadly. The subpoenas set a document deadline of May 22 for a broad request of information and communications.

    Through the subpoenas to the CDC, CISA (which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security) and the Global Engagement Center, under the Department of State’s purview, the Judiciary panel claims to be seeking information about the extent to which the Executive Branch “pressured and colluded” with social media and other tech companies and others to “censor certain viewpoints on social and other media in ways that undermine First Amendment principles.”

    Conservative critics have said that correspondence released by Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk late last year demonstrates a willingness by social media publishers to act on requests by government officials to suppress certain points of view. Federal officials, however, have rejected this accusation.

    “The Department of Homeland Security does not censor speech and does not request that content be taken down by social media companies,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN. “Instead of working with the Department, as numerous committees have done this Congress, the House Judiciary Committee has unnecessarily escalated to a subpoena. DHS will continue cooperating appropriately with Congressional oversight requests, all while faithfully working to protect our nation from terrorism and targeted violence, secure our borders, respond to natural disasters, defend against cyberattacks, and more.”

    The Judiciary panel “made no effort to work with DHS through traditional channels” a source familiar with the backchanneling between the committee and DHS said.

    Outlining the scope of the agency, the source added that CISA provides guidance on foreign influence operations, disinformation tactics and issues of election security and shares that information with state and local election officials. In the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, CISA shared potential election security related disinformation identified by local authorities with social media companies, but did not do so in the 2022 election cycle. The source emphasized, “platforms make their own decisions according to their policies and terms of service.”

    CNN has reached out to the other agencies for comment as well.

    Jordan claims that the subpoenas will help his panel determine if legislation is needed to create “new statutory limits on the Executive Branch’s ability to work with social media platforms and other companies to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users.”

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  • Tiny troubles: Toddler infiltrates White House grounds | CNN Politics

    Tiny troubles: Toddler infiltrates White House grounds | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    A tiny intruder infiltrated White House grounds Tuesday, prompting a swift response from the US Secret Service.

    Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, said a toddler crawled through the fence on the north side of the White House, setting off security alerts.

    “The Secret Service Uniformed Division today encountered a curious young visitor along the White House north fence line who briefly entered White House ground,” Gugliemli said. “The White House security systems instantly triggered Secret Service officers and the toddler and parents were quickly reunited.”

    It’s not the first time a toddler has crawled through the White House fence. There was a similar incident in 2014 when a toddler squeezed through the White House fence just before then-President Barack Obama was about to address the nation on Iraq. The breach prompted a temporary lockdown and delayed the briefing.

    “We were going to wait until he learned to talk to question him, but in lieu of that, he got a timeout and was sent on way with parents,” Edwin Donovan, then a spokesman for the United States Secret Service, said.

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  • US, Mexican officials search for 3 American sailors last heard from 11 days ago | CNN

    US, Mexican officials search for 3 American sailors last heard from 11 days ago | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Coast Guard is assisting Mexican navy crews in the search for three American sailors, last heard from on April 4 near Mazatlán, Mexico, according to a Coast Guard news release.  

    Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien and William Gross are all “experienced sailors,” according to a joint statement from their families. They were aboard the Ocean Bound, a 44-foot La Fitte sailing vessel, when they left the Mexican city of Mazatlán en route to San Diego, the Coast Guard said.  

    “The sailors planned to stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6 for provisions and to report in before continuing on to San Diego,” the news release said. 

    “However, there was no record of them arriving in Cabo San Lucas or a report in of their location.”   

    Rescue coordinators have contacted marinas throughout Baja, Mexico, but there have been no sightings of the vessel, the news release said.  

    “Urgent marine information broadcasts have been issued over VHF radio requesting all mariners to keep a lookout for the missing persons and vessel,” the Coast Guard said. 

    Coast Guard officials urge anyone with information on the sailors or the sailing vessel to call the Coast Guard search and rescue coordination center at 510-437-3701.

    Cmdr. Greg Higgins, search mission coordinator for the US Coast Guard, said the weather was less than ideal when the trio set out.

    “When they began their voyage we know that the conditions were not optimal for that type of trip, though certainly, there were sailing vessels out there during that time. Winds potentially over 30 knots and seas 15 to 20, maybe more, feet at the time of their voyage,” Higgins told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield Saturday.

    “It’s a long trip for even in good conditions, from Mazatlán to Cabo. That’s two days, and certainly on to San Diego, which was their eventual destination. And since then it has improved marginally,” he added.

    Higgins said he hopes to gather information from witnesses who might have seen the sailors who went missing.

    “The Mexican Navy, now based in La Paz, Mexico, has the lead for search efforts, so there are numerous Mexican naval search and rescue assets that are working the case,” Higgins said. “For our portion, to support the excellent partnership that we have with Mexico and the Mexican Navy.

    “We’ve conducted search planning, so we’re using computer search tools to identify where the vessel may be based on environmental conditions, winds, and currents, where it may have drifted if they became distressed, as well as Coast Guard aircraft, searching with the permission of Mexico, and Coast Guard cutters searching as well,” Higgins said.

    The three Americans “are all experienced sailors,” according to a joint statement from their families.

    “Bill has over 50 years of sailing experience and is an extremely talented coastal cruiser. Kerry and Frank have 20 years sailing together and both hold captains licenses with the US Coast Guard,” according to the statement.

    Ocean Bound, described as “a sturdy older vessel,” departed Mazatlán on April 4 at about 9:30 a.m. local time. It headed “across the Sea of Cortez, a short stop had been planned in Cabo San Lucas and then to sail up the coast of Baja to San Diego,” the statement said. When they didn’t check in by the weekend, the Coast Guard was notified.

    “Cell phone pings on 4/4/2023 show off the coast of Mazatlan as calls to marinas in Cabo San Lucas,” according to the families.

    Their families presume they were trying to make slip reservations at the marina. But, because all the calls made were so short, it’s believed the attempts to reach someone were unsuccessful, said the statement. That calls are the last known contact with the Ocean Bound.

    According to family, the Coast Guard “has a current ‘travel projection’ if Ocean Bound simply lost radio contact and continued her journey to San Diego at just North or South of Turtle Bay (Bahia Tortugas) on the Baja Peninsula and is focused on searching there, in addition to long aircraft sweeps along the Baja Peninsula.”

    The parameters are reassessed each night to redefine the search the next day, according to the statement.

    “The sailing community has hundreds of additional vessels looking for our family members,” said the joint statement.

    The families thanked the Mexican Navy and US Coast Guard for their search and rescue operations.

    “They have communicated all of their efforts with kindness and compassion more than once a day,” said the statement.

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  • Racial disparities are working against disaster recovery for people of color. Climate change could make it worse | CNN

    Racial disparities are working against disaster recovery for people of color. Climate change could make it worse | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    People of color in the US face heightened risks of harm from climate-induced disasters. Now, non-profits are pushing to remedy that disparity with more equitable approaches to disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

    “Until we really address the root issues of climate injustice, we’re going to continue to see a disproportionate impact as it relates to disasters in Black and historically excluded communities,” said Abre’ Conner, Director of Environmental and Climate Justice for the NAACP.

    A report by the EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs looked at four vulnerable social groups: people living on low-income, racial minorities, those with no high school diploma, and seniors over age 65. Of those four groups, the study found minorities are most likely to live in areas projected to be impacted by climate change.

    Moreover, Black people are 40% more likely than non-African-Americans to live in areas with the highest projected increases in mortality rates due to changes in extreme temperatures.

    It’s a dire warning for the future, based on an inequitable past.

    Many marginalized people, Black in particular, have faced socioeconomic factors that relegate them to living in environmentally hazardous areas or substandard housing structures. So, when a natural disaster hits, they are ill-equipped to withstand the impact.

    That was the situation this past March 24 when a severe tornado leveled much of the Black-majority rural town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, killing 26 people. Racial disparities existed in Rolling Fork for decades. Many residents there were poor, had low access to information or internet service, were priced out of insurance coverage, and lived in mobile homes that weren’t retrofitted to withstand severe weather conditions. With the nearest tornado shelter over 15 miles away, it set the perfect storm to leave people displaced and scrambling for aid and assistance, which was very slow to arrive.

    “The tendency is to ignore and exclude, and that’s a violation of human rights,” said Chauncia Willis, CEO and founder of the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management (I-DIEM).

    Willis’ group deploys equity response teams before and after disasters to help community organizations integrate equity into all facets of disaster policy and practices. She started I-DIEM after spending over 14 years in disaster management.

    “I’ve witnessed the disparities, and it hits a little different when the people look like you,” Willis said in an interview with CNN.

    Tracy Harden (Right) hugs Barbara Nell McReynolds-Pinkins near the walk-in cooler where they and seven others took shelter as a tornado destroyed Harden's restaurant in Rolling Fork, Mississippi.

    Almost three weeks after the tornado, Rolling Fork’s mayor said about 500 people – roughly a third of the town’s population— remained displaced, leaving victims with questions and concerns. To provide some answers, FEMA, MEMA (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency), the Small Business Administration, and the American Red Cross are holding a series of town halls, the first of which took place Tuesday at South Delta Elementary School.

    Housing is a major concern at the present. “It wasn’t just Rolling Fork; it was all of those other communities surrounding that were also impacted by the tornado,” said Willis. “That’s going to be the difference between life and death in the future.”

    The future is concerning; marginalized communities historically endured long-term effects from disasters.

    Remnants of destruction are still visible In New Orleans’ primarily Black 9th ward 18 years after Hurricane Katrina.

    Although natural disasters don’t discriminate, the response can, especially when the lingering effects of structural racism hamper relief.

    In Katrina’s aftermath, Louisiana instituted a “Road Home” program, disbursing emergency funds based on appraised home values rather than actual rebuilding costs. But after decades of discriminatory economic practices including redlining, homes in historically White communities typically appraised far higher than comparable houses in Black neighborhoods.

    Also, New Orleans’ White neighborhoods tend to sit on higher ground with less risk of flooding and easier access to jobs and resources. The circumstances after Katrina ended up forcing many Black families out of the city.

    “Poverty should not hinder survival from disasters. Being a person that is not White shouldn’t limit your survival,” said Willis.

    But there is growing awareness of the unfairness and concerted efforts to fix it. Sally Ray from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy says racial and socioeconomic disparities are key factors guiding where her organization deploys funding.

    “I think we need to quit being uncomfortable talking about the intersection of climate change, racism, and disasters,” Ray told CNN. “The reality is we have long systemic racist problems across our country, and because of these things, when a disaster comes, it’s much more devastating.”

    President Joe Biden speaks in a storm-stricken area of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on March 31.

    A growing body of research spotlights the historical inequity in federal disaster response.

    One 2018 study by sociologists from Rice University and the University of Pittsburgh looked at counties that each suffered the same amount ($10 billion) in hazard damage. In those events, Black survivors’ wealth decreased by an average $27,000 while White survivors’ average wealth increased $126,000.

    In 2020, FEMA’s advisory council acknowledged the inequities and called for the agency to address the issue.

    On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985 to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government. Since then, FEMA has undertaken initiatives to expand access and reduce barriers to their response, recovery, and resilience programs.

    In an email to CNN, FEMA spokesman Jeremy Edwards said, “Recognizing this and the realities of historically underserved communities, FEMA—under the leadership of Administrator Criswell—has undertaken a number of initiatives to reduce barriers, so all people, including those from vulnerable and underserved communities, are better able to access our assistance.”

    The agency has simplified the eligibility process, expanded the ways survivors can verify home occupancy, and prioritized casework for vulnerable populations.

    FEMA says these changes have enabled 124,000 survivors to access over $709 million in assistance they would have previously been ineligible to receive.

    But non-profit leaders want FEMA to do more.

    “I think that in earnest they are trying to correct, but we can still do better in pushing to ensure these recoveries are equitable,” said Arthur DelaCruz, CEO of Team Rubicon. This veteran-led humanitarian organization assists global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises.

    Shirley Stamps stands in the rubble of her home in the aftermath of the Rolling Fork tornado.

    Grassroots activists insist equitable disaster planning and response must start with local voices.

    “The future of disaster management is actually going to be at the local level with the locals as the lead rather than the federal government or state government,” explained I-DEIM’s Willis.

    Inherent distrust of authorities after years of racist and discriminatory practices is one reason why. Another reason is simple pragmatism.

    “Who knows the community better?” asked Willis, whose group helps set up Community Resilience Hubs and local-led facilities to support neighbors, coordinate communication and provide emergency management training.

    Willis emphasizes that these types of initiatives, and more, need to be done before disasters strike. “When people are not prioritized before a disaster, those same people will bear the brunt.”

    71-year-old Emma Lee Williams sits in her front yard after the EF-4 Rolling Fork tornado destroyed her house.

    For a long time, non-profit organizations have been counted on to plug gaps that the government had yet to fill in disenfranchised communities. And increasingly, non-profits are doing things differently to address racial disparities in disaster management.

    For Team Rubicon, that means using tools like the CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index. The index, launched by the Center for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, uses 16 variables to help emergency planners and officials identify vulnerable communities before, during, or after disasters. Those variables include social factors like poverty, lack of transportation, and crowded housing. The databases and maps generated by the tool help estimate supplies required, emergency personnel needs, evacuation procedures, and even whether an area needs emergency shelters.

    “As we see a disaster strike an area, that is where we try to deploy because we know that’s where the greatest need is,” explained DelaCruz.

    The Center for Disaster Philanthropy focuses on identifying a diverse pool of applicants in their grantmaking, pushing more funds to organizations supporting struggling communities of color, and listening to the needs of the affected people on an individualized basis.

    “We work really at the local grassroots level to get to know the community,” said the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s Sally Ray, who spoke to CNN from Oklahoma City, which was hard-hit by tornadoes last year. She and her team are on the ground, accessing lingering issues and working on proactive ways to support the town throughout this year’s tornado season.

    “Our goal has always been to leave a community in a better place and be there for the long-term commitment to that, Ray added.

    Meanwhile, many non-profits, especially at the local level, are overstretched as major disasters become more frequent and destructive.

    “There are communities that have suffered disaster after disaster after disaster, and the toll on the people and the community increases each time that happens,” said DelaCruz.

    “We need to start integrating community-based organizations into the global emergency management structure,” said Willis.

    Most of the walls are gone but the furniture remains where a home once stood before the tornado ripped through Rolling Fork, Mississippi.

    Disasters destabilize communities as well as economies. That is why much of the conversation among emergency management leaders lately has focused on building an inclusive approach to disaster resilience.

    “In Rolling Rock, there’s been a disaster. Now is the time to rebuild with the proper strategy, with forethought, a focus on resilience, and a focus on life-saving equity,” Willis from I-DIEM explained. She said these resilience efforts must include disaster preparedness and infrastructure improvement and awareness of socioeconomic issues impacting marginalized communities.

    FEMA says they are committed to helping Mississippi recover.

    To date the agency says they have visited 1,400 homes in Sharkey County alone, interacting with over 2,400 survivors and registering hundreds for assistance. They’ve also provided more than $5.4 million to Mississippi households since the deadly tornadoes struck earlier this year.

    The agency also implemented some grassroots efforts like non-financial direct technical assistance to help build community-wide resilience in 20 communities, tribes, and territories.

    Nonprofits continue to play a crucial role. But the problem looms large, and when it comes to disaster response for historically marginalized communities, there’s more than enough workload to go around.

    “There is no value in not directly preparing communities of color,” Willis said. “The government already underserves them. Do they also need to be underserved by humanity?”

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  • Customs officers in Philadelphia seize nearly $200K worth of counterfeit auto parts, including air bag covers | CNN

    Customs officers in Philadelphia seize nearly $200K worth of counterfeit auto parts, including air bag covers | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    US Customs and Border Protection officers in Philadelphia have seized counterfeit auto parts worth nearly $200,000, the agency said.

    The parts were shipped from China to Philadelphia in March, including air bag covers, aluminum hoods, front fenders and bumpers, and badges featuring the logos of Chevrolet, Buick and Dodge, the CBP said in a news release. If the parts were authentic, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price would be $196,035.

    Officers intercepted the shipment on March 2. Suspecting they were counterfeit, they submitted photos and documentation to trade experts at the Centers of Excellence and Expertise and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. CBP received word on March 31 the auto parts were counterfeit.

    CBP officers promptly seized the shipment and launched an investigation. Thus far, no one has been criminally charged.

    “Consumers in need of auto repairs should be wary of unscrupulous repair shops and greedy internet vendors that prioritize profits over the safety of their customers,” said Joseph Martella, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia. “Consumer safety is a top priority to Customs and Border Protection and CBP officers will continue to seize counterfeit goods that threaten the health and safety of American consumers.”

    CBP officers and Homeland Security Investigations special agents seized nearly 21,000 shipments containing counterfeit products in fiscal year 2022. The estimated value of the seized products was more than $2.98 billion, the statement said.

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  • Your Trump questions answered. Yes, he can still run for president if indicted | CNN Politics

    Your Trump questions answered. Yes, he can still run for president if indicted | CNN Politics

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    A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.



    CNN
     — 

    Could he still run for president? Why would the adult-film star case move before any of the ones about protecting democracy? How could you possibly find an impartial jury?

    What’s below are answers to some of the questions we’ve been getting – versions of these were emailed in by subscribers of the What Matters newsletter – about the possible indictment of former President Donald Trump.

    He’s involved in four different criminal investigations by three different levels of government – the Manhattan district attorney; the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney; and the Department of Justice.

    These questions are mostly concerned with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s potential indictment of Trump over a hush-money payment scheme, but many could apply to each investigation.

    The most-asked question is also the easiest to answer.

    Yes, absolutely.

    “Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” the University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Hasen told me in an email.

    The Constitution requires only three things of candidates. They must be:

    • A natural born citizen.
    • At least 35 years old.
    • A resident of the US for at least 14 years.

    As a political matter, it’s maybe more difficult for an indicted candidate, who could become a convicted criminal, to win votes. Trials don’t let candidates put their best foot forward. But it is not forbidden for them to run or be elected.

    There are a few asterisks both in the Constitution and the 14th and 22nd Amendments, none of which currently apply to Trump in the cases thought to be closest to formal indictment.

    Term limits. The 22nd Amendment forbids anyone who has twice been president (meaning twice been elected or served part of someone else’s term and then won his or her own) from running again. That doesn’t apply to Trump since he lost the 2020 election.

    Impeachment. If a person is impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate of high crimes and misdemeanors, he or she is removed from office and disqualified from serving again. Trump, although twice impeached by the House during his presidency, was also twice acquitted by the Senate.

    Disqualification. The 14th Amendment includes a “disqualification clause,” written specifically with an eye toward former Confederate soldiers.

    It reads:

    No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

    Potential charges in New York City with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult-film star have nothing to do with rebellion or insurrection. Nor do potential federal charges with regard to classified documents.

    Potential charges in Fulton County, Georgia, with regard to 2020 election meddling or at the federal level with regard to the January 6, 2021, insurrection could perhaps be construed by some as a form of insurrection. But that is an open question that would have to work its way through the courts. The 2024 election is fast approaching.

    If he was convicted of a felony – reminder, he has not yet even been charged – in New York, Trump would be barred from voting in his adoptive home state of Florida, at least until he had served out a potential sentence.

    First off, there’s no suggestion of any coordination between the Manhattan DA, the Department of Justice and the Fulton County DA.

    These are all separate investigations on separate issues moving at their own pace.

    The payment to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels occurred years ago in 2016. Trump has argued the statute of limitations has run out. Lawyers could argue the clock stopped when Trump left New York to become president in 2017.

    It’s also not clear how exactly a state crime (falsifying business records) can be paired with a federal election crime to create a state felony. There are some very deep legal dives into this, like this one from Just Security. We will have to see what, if anything, Bragg adds if he does bring an indictment.

    Of the four known criminal investigations into Trump, falsifying business records with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult-film actress seems like the smallest of potatoes, especially since federal prosecutors decided not to charge him when he left office.

    His finances, subject of a long-running investigation, seem like a bigger deal. But the Manhattan DA decided not to criminally charge Trump with regard to tax crimes. Trump has been sued by the New York attorney general in civil court based on some of that evidence.

    Investigations in Georgia with regard to election meddling and by the Justice Department with regard to January 6 and his treatment of classified data also seem more consequential.

    But these cases are being pursued by different entities at different paces in different governments – New York City; Fulton County, Georgia; and the federal government.

    “I do think that the charges are much more serious against Trump related to the election,” Hasen said in his email. “But falsifying business records can also be a crime. (I’m more skeptical about combining that in a state court with a federal campaign finance violation.)”

    One federal law enforcement source told CNN’s John Miller over the weekend that Trump’s Secret Service detail is actively engaged with authorities in New York City about how this arrest process would work if Trump is ultimately indicted.

    It’s usually a routine process of fingerprinting, a mug shot and an arraignment. It would not likely be a public event and clearly his protective detail would move through the building with Trump.

    New York does not release most mug shots after a 2019 law intended to cut down on online extortion.

    As Trump is among the most divisive and now well-known Americans in history, it’s hard to believe there’s a big, impartial jury pool out there.

    The Sixth Amendment guarantees “the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.”

    Finding such a jury “won’t be easy given the intense passions on both sides that he engenders,” Hasen said.

    A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in March asked for registered voters’ opinion of Trump. Just 2% said they hadn’t heard enough about him to say.

    The New York State Unified Court System’s trial juror’s handbook explains the “voir dire” process by which jurors are selected. Those accepted by both the prosecution and defense as being free of “bias or personal knowledge that could hinder his or her ability to judge a case impartially” must take an oath to act fairly and impartially.

    We’re getting way ahead of ourselves. He hasn’t been indicted, much less tried or convicted. Any indictment, even for a Class E felony in New York, would be for the kind of nonviolent offense that would not lead to jail time for any defendant.

    “I don’t expect Trump to be put in jail if he is indicted for any of these charges,” Hasen said. “Jail time would only come if he were convicted and sentenced to jail time.”

    The idea that Trump would ever see the inside of a jail cell still seems completely far-fetched. Hasen said the Secret Service would have to arrange for his protection in jail. The logistics of that are mind-boggling. Would agents be placed into cells on either side of him? Would they dress as inmates or guards?

    Top officials accused of wrongdoing have historically found a way out of jail. Former President Richard Nixon got a preemptive pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford. Nixon’s previous vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned after he was caught up in a corruption scandal. Agnew made a plea deal and avoided jail time. Aaron Burr, also a former vice president, narrowly escaped a treason conviction. But then he left the country.

    That remains to be seen. Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent and current global head of security for Teneo, said on CNN on Monday that agents are taking a back seat – to the New York Police Department and New York State court officers who are in charge of maintaining order and safety, and to the FBI, which looks for potential acts of violence by extremists.

    The Secret Service, far from coordinating the event as they might normally, are “in a protective mode,” Wackrow said.

    “They are viewing this as really an administrative movement where they have to protect Donald Trump from point A to point B, let him do his business before the court, and leave. They are not playing that active role that we typically see them in.”

    The New York Times published a report based on anonymous sources close to Trump on Tuesday that suggested he is, either out of bravado or genuine delight, relishing the idea of having to endure a “perp walk” in New York City. The “perp walk,” by the way, is the public march of a perpetrator into a police office for processing.

    “He has repeatedly tried to show that he is not experiencing shame or hiding in any way, and I think you’re going to see that,” the Times reporter and CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman said on the network on Tuesday night.

    “I do think there’s a part of him that does view this as a political asset,” said Marc Short, the former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, during an appearance on CNN on Wednesday. “Because he can use it to paint the other, more serious legal jeopardy he faces either in Georgia or the Department of Justice, as they’re politically motivated.”

    But Short argued voters will tire of the baggage Trump is carrying, particularly if he faces additional potential indictments in the federal and Georgia investigations.

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  • Mayorkas goes on the offensive as GOP scrutiny builds, says it’s up to Congress to fix immigration system | CNN Politics

    Mayorkas goes on the offensive as GOP scrutiny builds, says it’s up to Congress to fix immigration system | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed the finger back at Congress to fix the country’s broken immigration system and maintained that he will not resign from his post in an new interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace.

    House Republicans, who have been fierce critics of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, have been moving to build a case against Mayorkas as they consider launching rare impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet secretary.

    “I’m not going to resign,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Chris Wallace on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which is now streaming on HBOMax and airs Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET on CNN.

    “I call upon Congress – as the president has done, as this nation has done – to actually fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades,” he added.

    Republican lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas’ claims of having operational control of the border are unfounded and that the record arrests mark a dereliction of duty – two themes that have come up repeatedly in congressional hearings and have been cited as reason to impeach the secretary.

    Ahead of potential proceedings, the Department of Homeland Security is bringing on a private law firm to help with potential impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas.

    “I don’t have any intention of being uncooperative. I have complete confidence in the integrity of our decision making,” Mayorkas told Wallace.

    Over recent weeks, key committee chairman already held two congressional hearings over the Biden administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border. Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution, held its first border-related hearing.

    “These numbers make clear that the Biden administration does not have operational control of the border,” House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan said during a February hearing. “Month after month after month, we have set records for migrants coming into the country and frankly, I think it’s intentional.”

    Pressed by Wallace on what it means for the border to be secure and if it means people aren’t illegally crossing the border, Mayorkas said: “Of course not. By that measure, the border has never been secure, right?”

    Asked again by what measure the border is secure, he said: “There is not a common definition of that. If one looks at the statutory definition, the literal interpretation of the statutory language, if one person successfully evades law enforcement at the border, then we have breached the security of the border.”

    He added: “What our goal is – to achieve operational control of the border, to do everything that we can to support our personnel with the resources, the technology, the policies that really advance the security of the border, and do not come at the cost of the values of our country. And I say that, I say that, because in the prior administration, policies were promulgated, were passed, that did not hew to the values that we hold dear.”

    The Biden administration faces unprecedented movement across the Western Hemisphere that has contributed to a surge of migrants at the border, including more people from different countries, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The US is largely barred from deporting migrants to Cuba and Venezuela, presenting a unique set of challenges for DHS.

    “The level of migration that has gripped our hemisphere is extraordinary,” Mayorkas said, stressing that Congress needs to pass reform to fix the immigration system, which Republicans and Democrats agree is broken.

    US border authorities encountered migrants more than 2.3 million times along the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million migrants were turned away at the border.

    In early January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to include Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans to provide a legal pathway for them to enter the US instead of crossing the border. The administration also made those nationalities eligible for Title 42, meaning they can now be turned away by authorities if they don’t apply for the program.

    Since then, there has been a significant decline in migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela crossing the US-Mexico border unlawfully, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which attributed the drop to new border measures.

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  • US authorities found young dolphin’s skull inside unattended bag at a Detroit airport | CNN

    US authorities found young dolphin’s skull inside unattended bag at a Detroit airport | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Federal authorities made a grim and unexpected discovery in an unattended bag last week at a Detroit airport.

    Inside, the bag held a young dolphin’s skull, the US Customs and Border Protection said in a news release Friday.

    The bag was separated from its owners while traveling and when it arrived in the US, a routine screening at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport revealed what appeared to be a skull-shaped object, CBP said in the release.

    “Upon further examination by CBP and US Fish and Wildlife Service officials, it was determined the skull was from a young dolphin,” the release said.

    The skull was turned over to US Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors for further investigation.

    “The possession of wildlife items, especially those of protected animals is prohibited,” Robert Larkin, the area port director, said in a statement. “We take wildlife smuggling seriously and work closely with our federal partners at the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect wildlife and their habitats.”

    There are restrictions and requirements around importing and exporting certain fish, wildlife and products that come from them – and it’s not the first time US authorities make a similar seizure.

    In December, CBP officers seized zebra and giraffe bones from a woman at Washington’s Dulles International Airport. The woman, who was traveling from Kenya, had kept the bones as souvenirs, authorities said at the time.

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  • Republicans slam Biden’s handling of the US-Mexico border in first congressional hearing | CNN Politics

    Republicans slam Biden’s handling of the US-Mexico border in first congressional hearing | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Republican lawmakers slammed President Joe Biden’s border policies on Wednesday and laid the groundwork for an impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the first of a series of hearings on immigration since seizing control of the House.

    Over the course of Biden’s presidency, Republicans have repeatedly criticized the administration over the handling of the US-Mexico border, where an influx of migrants has stretched federal resources. Critics argue the historic number of arrests is evidence of Biden’s policies not working despite the administration largely using the same protocols as the Trump administration, principally a Covid-era border restriction.

    Now, with a House majority and leadership on key committees, Republicans plan to raise those criticisms in congressional hearings and seize on an issue that’s been a political vulnerability for the president, beginning with Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing.

    House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan criticized Biden’s border policies at the outset of the committee’s first hearing this Congress, making clear the Republican’s intent to underscore what the GOP has described as a crisis on the US-Mexico border over the course of the more than three-hour hearing.

    Jordan kicked off the hearing with a series of figures, including the record number of migrant encounters at the border and number of people flagged for being on the terror watchlist – arguing that the data is evidence of the administration’s failed border policies.

    US border authorities encountered migrants more than 2.3 million times along the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million migrants were turned away at the border.

    “These numbers make clear that the Biden administration does not have operational control of the border,” Jordan said. “Month after month after month, we have set records for migrants coming into the country and frankly, I think it’s intentional.”

    Republican lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas’ claims of having operational control of the border are unfounded and that the record arrests mark a dereliction of duty – two themes that came up during Wednesday’s hearing and have been cited as reason to impeach the DHS secretary. The House Judiciary Committee would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution.

    The tone of the hearing didn’t sit well with New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the committee’s top Democrat, who lambasted Republicans for their approach.

    “I wish this hearing was starting off on a different note. This hearing is more of the same, haphazard chaotic style we have come to expect of this new Republican majority,” Nadler said in his opening remarks. “The first hearing will showcase the racist tendencies of the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the party,” he added.

    Over the course of the hearing, Democrats seized on disagreements over border policy within the GOP conference. Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson, of Georgia, called it “nothing more than a distraction.”

    The committee described Wednesday’s hearing – the first in a series – as an examination of “border security, national security, and how fentanyl has impacted American lives,” but it also served as a platform for GOP lawmakers to air their grievances over the administration’s immigration policies.

    Brandon Dunn, co-founder of Forever 15 Project, which seeks to raise awareness on fentanyl, Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona, and El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego testified before the panel.

    The House Judiciary Committee is one of many committees that will be holding hearings over the situation at the US-Mexico border. The House Oversight Committee also intends to hold a hearing on the issue and has already engaged in a back and forth with the department over its witnesses.

    House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, accused DHS of “refusing to permit” four chief patrol agents to testify at an upcoming Oversight hearing that Comer invited them to the week of February 6.

    DHS, however, offered US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who oversees the four agents Comer requested, to testify before the House Oversight Committee and said it would make sector chiefs available for a member-level briefing, according to a letter from DHS to Comer obtained by CNN, citing its own assessment of who was appropriate to testify.

    The Biden administration faces unprecedented movement across the Western hemisphere that has contributed to a surge of migrants at the border, including more people from different countries, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The US is largely barred from deporting migrants to Cuba and Venezuela, presenting a unique set of challenges for DHS.

    In early January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to include Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Cubans to provide a legal pathway for them to enter the US instead of crossing the border. The administration also made those nationalities eligible for Title 42, meaning they can now be turned away by authorities if they don’t apply for the program.

    Since then, there has been a significant decline in migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela crossing the US-Mexico border unlawfully, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which attributed the drop to new border measures.

    Encounters with migrants from those four nationalities declined 97% in January compared to December, officials previously told reporters, citing preliminary numbers. Border numbers often fluctuate depending on circumstances in the Western hemisphere, so it’s unclear how long the trend will hold.

    Already, though, Republican-led states have sued the administration over the program. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 19 other states, argued in a lawsuit that the administration didn’t go through the notice and comment rulemaking process before instituting the rule. As a result, the states are asking the court to block the program.

    Administration officials immediately pushed back.

    “It is incomprehensible that some states who stand to benefit from these highly effective enforcement measures are seeking to block them and cause more irregular migration at our southern border,” Mayorkas said in a statement.

    This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

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  • Charges dropped against Afghan soldier who was detained seeking asylum at US border with Mexico | CNN Politics

    Charges dropped against Afghan soldier who was detained seeking asylum at US border with Mexico | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Criminal charges have been dropped against an Afghan national who served with the US military in Afghanistan and was apprehended after fleeing to the US by crossing the southern border with Mexico.

    Abdul Wasi Safi, called Wasi, served alongside US special operations forces in Afghanistan as an Afghan special forces soldier and fled the country after the US’ withdrawal was complete in August 2021. He traveled to the US on his own, and in September 2022 he was detained after he entered over the southern border from Mexico.

    Safi’s case has drawn the attention of veteran groups and US lawmakers who pushed for the charges to be dropped and the Biden administration to take action and grant him the right to stay in the country while he awaited a hearing on his asylum claim.

    Safi’s immigration attorney, Jennifer Cervantes, told CNN that he intended to seek asylum, but was unfamiliar with the reporting requirements and did not go to an established port of entry.

    “He didn’t understand that he needed to go to a port of entry to ask for asylum, otherwise this case would have been very different,” Cervantes said on Wednesday. “Wasi’s not from the southern border, he’s not from Latin America, and so he wasn’t really aware of how to actually present himself for asylum … He thought that he needed to apply as soon as he found a CBP (Customs and Border Protection) official to give him his documents, and that’s exactly what he did.”

    Safi was ultimately charged with failing to comply with reporting requirements, but court records show that the charges were dismissed by a Texas judge on Monday.

    The news was announced on Tuesday evening by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

    “Mr. Safi came across the Rio Grande with a group of migrants after being beaten in another country and desperate to find a way to reach America to see freedom,” Jackson Lee said in a statement on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, his entry was at a non-port of entry and Mr. Safi has been held ever since in detention facilities. What happened over the last couple of weeks was a strategic and forceful effort to bring all agencies together to make the right decision for Mr. Safi.”

    Jackson Lee took a role in helping get the charges dropped by reaching out to leadership of US agencies to speak to Safi’s standing as an Afghan soldier and individual who worked alongside US forces, she told CNN on Wednesday.

    “I’m very grateful to the leadership of the Department of Defense who answered my call immediately and provided important and valuable information,” she said, though she declined to provide more details on what that assistance looked like.

    “I’m grateful to say thank you to my government,” Jackson Lee added. “Thank you to my president, and thank you to the leadership of the different agencies including the Department of Defense that really understood his plight and worked hard to ensure that we moved this process along.”

    Sami-ullah Safi, Wasi Safi’s brother who goes by Sami and who also worked alongside the US military in Afghanistan before he became a US citizen in July 2021, celebrated the news on Wednesday but told CNN he still has questions.

    “He came to the same country that he fought alongside, and to his surprise he was singled out and treated as a criminal. Is this how America treats its allies and those who sacrificed alongside Americans in Afghanistan?” Sami Safi said. “My service for the military should have been valued. My brother’s service to the military should have been valued.”

    According to a letter sent to President Joe Biden by a coalition of US veterans groups, Wasi Safi “served faithfully alongside US Special Operations Forces” and “continued to support the Northern resistance against the Taliban” during the US withdrawal in 2021. But as the Taliban consolidated power, it was clear Wasi Safi would be at extreme risk because of his work with the US special operations community.

    Sami Safi previously told CNN that his brother received “multiple voicemails” while he was still in Afghanistan that said his fellow Afghan service members were being captured and killed by the Taliban.

    So Wasi Safi began the journey to the US. The letter from the US veterans groups said that he “traveled on foot or by bus through 10 countries, surviving torture, robbery, and attempts on his life, to seek asylum in the United States from the threat on his life and expecting a hero’s welcome from his American allies.” Instead, he was apprehended by Border Patrol and has been in their custody since.

    And while the charges against him were dropped, the road for Wasi Safi and his brother is not over.

    Cervantes has requested that Customs and Border Patrol drops its retainer on Wasi Safi before he is transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The detainer is “fairly common,” she said, because CBP “want him to be transferred to ICE and do a credible fear interview.”

    “Right now, we’re kind of going back and forth between CBP – I’m asking CBP to release their detainer and actually issue him an OAR parole (an immigration status for Afghan migrants), which is what the United States issues to most Afghans that they brought in because I think that’s the right thing to do in this case,” Cervantes said. “However, if they don’t do that, he’ll be transferred to ICE custody, and we’ll be trying to get him released from ICE.”

    She added that she doesn’t have “any doubt” that Wasi Safi will be able to pass the credible fear interview.

    “We’ll hopefully be able to get him released from all custody here shortly,” Cervantes said, “and that the government will really see not only his service to the United States – Wasi worked in counterterrorism, so he was trying to prevent terrorist attacks. So not only will they hopefully see that, but also again the threat to his life.”

    Sami Safi said his brother’s immigration status is the next hurdle that he is going to start working on immediately.

    “The biggest challenge that I have to now start working on would be his immigration status – what status America is willing to give him with all his sacrifice,” he said.

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  • Republican lawmaker indicates Congress will investigate TSA no-fly list breach | CNN Politics

    Republican lawmaker indicates Congress will investigate TSA no-fly list breach | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A Republican congressman who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee said Congress “will be coming for answers” after a hacker revealed the Transportation Security Administration’s no-fly list of known or suspected terrorists was accessible on an unsecured computer server.

    “The entire US no-fly list – with 1.5 million+ entries – was found on an unsecured server by a Swiss hacker,” Bishop said in a tweet. “Besides the fact that the list is a civil liberties nightmare, how was this info so easily accessible?”

    The North Carolina lawmaker, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, indicated Congress will investigate the data exposure revealed on Friday.

    “We’ll be coming for answers,” Bishop claimed, possibly making the breach the latest in a long list of inquiries House Republicans have pledged to launch now that they have control of the lower chamber.

    CNN has contacted the committee for comment.

    In an earlier statement to CNN, the TSA said Friday it is “aware of a potential cybersecurity incident, and we are investigating in coordination with our federal partners.”

    The data was sitting on the public internet in an unsecured computer server hosted by CommuteAir, a regional airline based in Ohio, according to the hacker claiming the discovery, CNN previously reported.

    The hacker, who also describes herself as a cybersecurity researcher, previously told CNN she notified CommuteAir of the data exposure.

    The regional airline said in a statement that the data accessed by the hacker was “an outdated 2019 version of the federal no-fly list” that included names and birthdates.

    The no-fly list is a set of known, or suspected, terrorists, who are barred from flying to or in the US. The screening program grew out of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and involves airlines comparing their passenger records with federal data to keep dangerous people off planes.

    CNN previously reported that CommuteAir, which exclusively operates 50-seat regional flights for United Airlines from Washington Dulles, Houston and Denver hubs, said it took the affected computer server offline after a “member of the security research community” had contacted the airline.

    The Daily Dot, a tech news outlet, first reported on the supposed data breach.

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  • US Coast Guard tracking suspected Russian spy ship off coast of Hawaii in international waters | CNN Politics

    US Coast Guard tracking suspected Russian spy ship off coast of Hawaii in international waters | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Coast Guard says it is tracking a suspected Russian spy ship off the coast of Hawaii in international waters as heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow remain over Russian’s war in Ukraine.

    “In recent weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard has continued to monitor a Russian vessel, believed to be an intelligence gathering ship, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands,” the USCG said in a news release.

    The Coast Guard noted the situation is not unusual but that it is tracking it closely. “While foreign military vessels may transit freely through the U.S. economic exclusive zone (EEZ), as per customary international laws, foreign-flagged military vessels have often been observed operating and loitering within Coast Guard District Fourteen’s area of response,” the release stated.

    This is not the first time suspected Russia spy ships have sailed off the coast of the United States. In 2019, a Russian spy ship off the southeastern coast of the United States was observed operating in what two US officials told CNN was an “unsafe manner.”

    Watch: Russian spy ship sails recklessly off US (December 2019)

    The actions of the Viktor Leonov, a Russian surveillance ship sailing off the coast of South Carolina and Florida, were determined to be unsafe because it was not using running lights in low visibility weather and was not responding to commercial vessels’ attempts to communicate to avoid potential accidents.

    The USCG said in the release that it “continues to coordinate with Department of Defense partners, providing updates to foreign vessel movements and activities and to appropriately meet presence with presence to encourage international maritime norms.”

    russian spy ship moving toward us

    Military: Russian spy ship moving toward US (2018)

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