Category Archives: Chicago

Dr Phil joins Chicago immigration raid as border czar says more arrests coming

Posted on by

TV personality embeds in one of several raids in US cities in what Tom Homan says are only ‘beginning stages’

The TV personality Dr Phil joined the US border czar, Tom Homan, in a choreographed immigration raid in Chicago, one of several conducted in US cities over the weekend in what Homan claimed was only “the beginning stages” of Donald Trump’s promised threat to deport millions of people from the country.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said it had made 956 arrests on Sunday, bringing the total since Trump took office to 2,681 arrests – short of the 1,200 to 1,500 daily arrests that Trump has reportedly demanded. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s White House has issued a directive to Ice field offices that they should make 75 arrests daily and that agency managers would be held responsible for missed targets, raising fears of indiscriminate arrest tactics.

Continue reading...

Immigration raids in Chicago begin days after ‘border czar’ claimed officials were ‘reconsidering’

Posted on by

Ice confirms ‘enhanced targeted operations’ in a city on edge after Trump officials warned of enforcement actions

US federal authorities have begun immigration raids in Chicago, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) statement confirmed on Sunday, just days after incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said officials were “reconsidering” after details leaked into the press.

In a statement, Ice said its agents, along with the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the US Marshals Service, had begun conducting “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce US immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities”.

Continue reading...

Trump’s first immigration raid to target 300 people in Chicago on Tuesday

Posted on by

Administration to send 100 to 200 officers to city on day two of new presidency, Wall Street Journal reports

Donald Trump’s incoming presidential administration plans to launch a large immigration raid in Chicago the day after he takes office, according to unnamed officials talking to various media outlets.

Federal immigration officers will target more than 300 people, focusing on those with histories of violent crimes, one official told the Associated Press, marking Trump’s initial attempt toward fulfilling his campaign promise of large-scale deportations.

Continue reading...

Body discovered in wheel well of United Airlines plane in Hawaii

Posted on by

Flight left Chicago’s O’Hare airport on morning of Christmas Eve and body discovered at Hawaii’s Kahului airport

Police are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii, the airline and the Maui police department said in statements on Wednesday.

The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an emailed statement.

Continue reading...

Severe turbulence injures seven people on United Airlines flight from Cancun

Posted on by

Rough weather forces flight from Mexico to Chicago to make emergency landing in Memphis

Severe turbulence caused injuries to seven people on a United Airlines flight from Cancun in Mexico to Chicago and forced an emergency landing in Memphis, according to the airline.

The Boeing 737 was hit by the rough weather and forced to land on Wednesday in the latest such incident to hit the industry. One person was taken to hospital.

Continue reading...

Harris urges America to choose ‘freedom and fairness’ over Trump extremism – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can find all of our US elections coverage here.

Now comes Pat Ryan, who represents a New York battleground district in the House of Representatives.

He hit out at Donald Trump for his reported insults towards military veterans, then obliquely referenced the newfound optimism Democrats are feeling since Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term:

These last few weeks have felt like a new day in America, when we are waking up, rising up, patriots, to demand a president who does not just treat our veterans with respect, but everyone with respect.

We do not retreat, we are the United States of America, we lead!

Continue reading...

Harris makes forceful speech – and skewers the menace from Mar-a-Lago

Posted on by

Her acceptance address was short on policy and poetry, but the Democratic nominee took the fight to Donald Trump

It was not a political address for the ages. It was not even the best of the convention (no one can compete with the Obamas). But Kamala Harris did enough in her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday to put an exclamation mark on one of the most dramatic turnarounds in modern political history.

And she made you reflect that you would not want to be Donald Trump facing her in next month’s televised debate. A speech that was short on policy and poetry was nevertheless devastating in skewering the menace from Mar-a-Lago. Trump can expect the same kind of interrogation when the two go head to head that would make most mortals tremble.

Continue reading...

Uncommitted holds sit-in outside Democratic convention after Palestinians denied a speaker

Posted on by

Movement launched protest after party rejected requests for Palestinian American to speak on the main stage

A sit-in that began Wednesday evening in protest of the Democratic convention’s denial of a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage continued on Thursday.

Uncommitted, a national movement that began in Michigan, won 30 delegates to the convention and has tried to use the party process to pressure Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to broker an end to the war in Gaza. The sit-in has been taking place outside the United Center, where Harris will speak this evening, is the latest attempt to get the Democratic party to allow greater prominence for the anti-war movement at this week’s convention in Chicago. Organizers were expected to remain in place until or unless the party changes course.

Continue reading...

Democratic convention schedule: Oprah reported to be among speakers on night three

Posted on by

Tim Walz and Bill Clinton headline the third night amid reports Oprah Winfrey will also appear. Here’s a look at other noteworthy speakers on the schedule

The Democratic national convention is under way, with primetime addresses scheduled for tonight from Bill Clinton; Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate; and many more.

CNN reported that Oprah Winfrey, the talkshow host and longtime Democrat, is set to appear on the main stage. In previous elections, Winfrey lent her star power to Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Chris Murphy, US senator, Connecticut

Olivia Troye, former Trump administration national security official

Bennie G Thompson, member of the US House of Representatives, Mississippi

Andy Kim, member of the US House of Representatives, New Jersey

Stevie Wonder, singer-songwriter and musician (performance)

Kenan Thompson, comedian, and guests (remarks on Project 2025)

Mindy Kaling (host introduction)

Hakeem Jeffries, US House of Representatives Democratic leader

Bill Clinton, former US president

Nancy Pelosi, former US House speaker

Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania

Catherine Cortez Masto, US senator, Nevada

Amanda Gorman, national youth poet laureate, whose performance of The Hill We Climb at Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration wowed the audience

Wes Moore, governor of Maryland

Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary

John Legend and Sheila E, musicians (performance)

Amy Klobuchar, US senator, Minnesota

Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and Kamala Harris’s running mate (keynote address)

Democratic national convention 2024 live updates

Monday: For the People

Tuesday: A Bold Vision for America’s Future

Wednesday: A Fight for Our Freedoms

Thursday: For Our Future

Continue reading...

Tim Walz will speak at Democratic convention in opportunity to address wider audience

Posted on by

The ‘joyful warrior’ will seek to build on the momentum of his and Kamala Harris’s campaign

Tim Walz will seek to build on the intense enthusiasm surrounding his and Kamala Harris’s campaign on Wednesday, as the newly anointed vice-presidential nominee headlines the third night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago.

The speech will give Walz an opportunity to introduce himself to a much wider audience of voters, as most Americans were unfamiliar with the Minnesota governor before Harris selected him as her running mate earlier this month. An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted last month, shortly after Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris, showed that only 13% of Americans knew enough about Walz to register an opinion of him.

Continue reading...

Republicans line up to speak at Democratic convention: ‘Trump has no morals’

Posted on by

Stephanie Grisham, ex-press secretary who excoriated Trump on Tuesday, to be followed by lawmakers and voters

Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former press secretary, excoriated the Republican presidential nominee at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday, saying: “He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.”

Grisham, a Republican operative who also served as a spokesperson to Melania Trump, offered firsthand accounts of the former president’s behavior behind closed doors.

When are Michelle and Barack Obama speaking?

The lineup of notable Democratic speakers tonight

Obama to bring message of hope to convention speech

Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Biden to give possible swan song at Democratic convention amid Gaza protests

Posted on by

President set to receive electrifying welcome but thousands also expected to protest in Chicago over Israel military aid

Joe Biden will take centre stage for perhaps the last time on Monday night when he addresses the Democratic national convention in Chicago – as the US president faces a backlash over one of his most complex legacies.

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to converge in the host city to demand that the US end military aid to Israel for its ongoing war in Gaza. Activists have branded Biden “Genocide Joe” and called for the vice-president, Kamala Harris, to change course.

Andrew Roth and Rachel Leingang contributed reporting

Continue reading...

Incredulous laughter, audible gasps: Trump’s performance at Black journalists’ panel left him exposed

Posted on by

The former president snapped and snarled through his interview – and looked for all the world like an old crank

After keeping an audience of interrogators waiting, Donald Trump finally arrived on stage for his Wednesday appearance at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists over an hour late. He blamed the delay not on the furious behind-the-scenes between the NABJ and his campaign about whether he could be factchecked in real time, but on what he described as organizers’ inability to calibrate the audio equipment in time for his highly controversial panel discussion. “It’s a disgrace,” he snarled.

When ABC’s Rachel Scott opened the proceedings by asking the former president his impetus for addressing the Black journalists, women and Chicagoans in the crowd who have been regularly subject to his hostility, Trump dismissed the question as “horrible” and called Scott “nasty” before turning his bluster meter up to 11.

Continue reading...

Black journalists respond to ‘disastrous’ Trump panel at annual convention

Posted on by

Many expressed frustration with National Association of Black Journalists for inviting ex-president ‘into our home’

On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump participated in a contentious panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). The discussion, held in Chicago at the organization’s annual convention, began after an hour-long delay, with a room full of journalists tensely awaiting the program.

During the wait, Philip Lewis, the HuffPost deputy editor, shared on X that the hold-up was being caused by a disagreement between the NABJ and the former president. “I’m told that Trump is demanding that NABJ not do the live factchecking and that’s why the event hasn’t started yet,” he wrote. “We’re in a standoff.”

Continue reading...

Son of El Chapo pleads not guilty in Chicago as mystery cloaks cartel arrests

Posted on by

Officials have mixed accounts around arrest of Sinaloa co-founder El Mayo after Guzmán López turned himself in

Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago, days after his arrest in a dramatic operation in which he may have delivered his father’s former business partner to US authorities.

Guzmán López, 38, was detained on Thursday alongside Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, the other co-founder of one of Mexico’s most powerful organised crime groups, after touching down in a small plane in El Paso, Texas.

Continue reading...

Tornado reported at Chicago airport as storms blow through midwest

Posted on by

Multiple twisters reported in Illinois, Iowa and Indiana as weather service warns of damaging winds

A tornado apparently touched down outside Chicago’s O’Hare airport on Monday as storms spawned multiple reports of twisters blowing through Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.

The turbulent weather knocked down trees and power poles, cutting electricity to more than 460,000 customers and businesses. A woman in Indiana died after a tree fell on to a home, authorities said.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Continue reading...

Family of missing woman in Bahamas shielded trans identity over fears of bias

Posted on by

Family of Taylor Casey, missing since 19 June, say Bahamian officials left them with ‘more questions than answers’

The family of Taylor Casey, a 42-year-old transgender woman who went missing in the Bahamas, said they initially shielded the media from her gender identity because they feared it would undermine efforts to find her.

Casey, who lives in Chicago, went missing on 19 June while on a month-long yoga retreat on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Her family has since worked to involve city, state and federal officials in the search for her – and said Bahamian officials left them with “more questions than answers”.

Continue reading...

Students walk out of University of Chicago graduation over Israel policies

Posted on by

Pro-Palestinian students staged the walkout as school withheld degrees of four seniors pending disciplinary review over protests

Dozens of students protesting Israel’s ongoing military strikes in Gaza walked out of the University of Chicago’s commencement on Saturday as the school withheld the diplomas of four seniors over their involvement with a pro-Palestinian encampment.

The disruption to the rainy two-hour outdoor ceremony was brief, with shouts, boos and calls to “stop genocide”. A crowd of students walked out in between speeches and a demonstration followed the official ceremony. Some chanted as they held Palestinian flags while others donned traditional keffiyehs, black-and-white checkered scarves that represent Palestinian solidarity, over their robes.

Continue reading...

Marian Shields Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama, dies at 86

Posted on by

Robinson, who moved to White House when Barack Obama won presidency, helped to care for granddaughters Malia and Sasha

Marian Shields Robinson, the mother of Michelle Obama who moved with the first family to the White House when son-in-law Barack Obama was elected president, has died. She was 86.

Robinson’s death was announced in an online tribute by Michelle Obama, and included details of the time she spent living in the White House, as an informal first grandmother to the Obama children.

Continue reading...