Troops can stay under federal control, as US senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth decry being barred access to Ice facility
The national guard troops Donald Trump sent to Illinois can remain in the state and under federal control but can’t be deployed, an appeals court ruled on Saturday.
The appeals court granted a pause in the case until it can hear further arguments.
Continue reading...Marimar Martinez, 30, was charged with impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon in fracas preceding shooting
A Chicago woman shot multiple times by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents was recently indicted by a grand jury on federal charges of impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon.
Prosecutors allege Marimar Martinez, 30, rammed the vehicle of federal agents with her own before they shot her, which they say was an act of self-defense. They also claim Martinez was armed.
Continue reading...Much-anticipated judgment centers on efforts by Trump administration to use troops to aid immigration crackdown
A judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from federalizing or deploying the national guard in Illinois after Donald Trump ordered hundreds of troops to Chicago to help with immigration enforcement and to battle what the White House says are high crime rates in the city.
US district judge April Perry issued her decision from the bench after more than two hours of arguments from lawyers for the federal government and the state of Illinois, which sued the Trump administration over the deployment. The order took effect on Thursday and will remain in place for two weeks.
Continue reading...President accused Brandon Johnson and JB Pritzker of failing to protect Ice officers as troops deploy to Chicago
Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s mayor, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. “Governor Pritzker also!”
Continue reading...Officers say woman was in chase ending in ramming border patrol vehicle during Trump’s immigration crackdown
The attorney for a woman who was shot by federal agents in Chicago over the weekend after she allegedly rammed a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle has claimed that body-camera footage captures one of the officers saying: “Do something, bitch,” before opening fire, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The shooting occurred on Saturday morning in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, as immigration agents, at the behest of the second Trump administration, have been scouring Illinois’s largest city for people to deport.
Continue reading...Homeland security secretary takes aim at city’s mayor who has called deployment of national guard ‘unhinged’
Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, called Chicago “a war zone” on Sunday after federal agents shot a woman and the governor of Illinois accused the administration of fueling the crisis rather than resolving it.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday morning, Noem took aim at the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s Ice raids and deployment of the national guard in Illinois, a measure he called “unhinged and unhealthy”.
Continue reading...Illinois governor JB Pritzker says administration is escalating ‘aggression against Illinois citizens and residents’
Donald Trump has moved to deploy the national guard in another city by authorizing 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago, where the government said border patrol agents shot and injured a woman while firing at someone who tried to run them over.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson confirmed that the president had authorized using Illinois national guard members, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.
Continue reading...Move is latest push by administration to expand military-led response to urban crime in Democratic-run cities
Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that would send national guard troops into Memphis, in a “replica” of the administration’s expanding military-led response to urban crime in Democratic-run cities.
The move was welcome by Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, who stood behind Trump in the Oval Office as he signed a presidential memo establishing a Memphis Safe Task Force.
Continue reading...Evanston urges residents to report sightings of federal agents as Trump has threatened immigration crackdown
A Chicago suburb has warned its residents that federal immigration agents may be present in the coming days as Donald Trump continues to threaten an immigration enforcement crackdown and national guard deployment in the nation’s third largest city.
The city of Evanston issued a statement urging its residents to report sightings of federal agents, after local officials said they were informed over the weekend about the likelihood of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) activity.
Continue reading...President is preparing for controversial federal takeover of US city in crusade against immigration ‘sanctuary cities’
Illinois’s governor JB Pritzker has called on “all to stand up” to Donald Trump as the US president prepares to launch a federally led immigration crackdown across Chicago, a plan which has been met with widespread backlash from local leaders and the public.
Pritzker’s comments come as White House officials vow to target Chicago next in its sweeping immigration crackdowns across the country. Recently, the White House requested that a US military base on the outskirts of Chicago assist with immigration operations as the Trump administration plans a broader takeover of Democratic-run “sanctuary cities”.
Continue reading...Brandon Johnson’s order directs city police not to collaborate with federal agents in immigration enforcement
The mayor of Chicago has signed an executive order outlining how the city will attempt to resist Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Brandon Johnson pushed back on Saturday against what he called the “out-of-control” Trump administration’s plan to deploy large numbers of federal officers into the country’s third-largest city, which could take place within days.
Continue reading...Governor Pritzker says Trump is ‘not in good shape’ as president weighs sending troops into Chicago against local wishes
The Democratic governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, has hit back at Donald Trump for commenting on his weight, saying the Republican president is himself “not in good shape” amid escalating tension over the possible deployment of the national guard on the streets of Chicago.
Trump said on Monday that Pritzker “ought to spend more time in the gym”. While successfully campaigning in 2024 for a second presidency that began in January, Trump said that the Illinois governor is “too busy eating” to lead his state.
Continue reading...Cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities had sued Trump administration over funding freeze
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to 34 “sanctuary cities” and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement, significantly expanding a previous order.
The order, issued on Friday by the San Francisco-based US district judge William Orrick, adds Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque, to cities that the administration is barred from denying funding.
Continue reading...Joseph Czuba sentenced to 53 years for murder of Wadee Alfayoumi and wounding of mother in October 2023
A landlord jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died.
Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen.
Continue reading...Blow to US president as judge rejects claim that sanctuary policies ‘thwart’ federal efforts to enforce immigration laws
A judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit Friday that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police.
The lawsuit, filed in February, alleged that so-called sanctuary laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.
Continue reading...At least 19 deaths were in Kentucky, seven in Missouri and two in Virginia after storms spawned two dozen tornadoes
Storm systems sweeping across the midwest to the south left at least 28 dead in Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia.
Kentucky’s governor, Andy Beshear, confirmed in a social media post that deaths in Kentucky had risen to 19 after the addition of a woman from Russell county. “Please join Britainy and me in praying for the families who are hurting right now,” the post read.
Continue reading...Joseph Czuba, 73, killed Muslim boy and severely injured his mother in vicious attack days after war in Gaza began
An Illinois landlord who killed a six-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured his mother in a vicious hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.
Continue reading...White House approves Tennessee’s state of emergency request as further fatalities expected to be confirmed
Violent storms and tornadoes have torn across the US south and midwest, killing at least seven people and downing power lines and trees, smashing homes and upturning cars across multiple states.
The outbreak of storms and tornadoes has resulted in at least seven deaths in Tennessee and Missouri, with further fatalities expected to be confirmed. One of the victims has been named: a 68-year-old man named Garry Moore who was a fire chief in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri. At least a dozen injuries have also been reported from the storms.
Continue reading...Several people killed in Kansas dust storm while scattered tornadoes cause fatalities in Missouri
Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the US, wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that killed at least 35 people as more severe weather was expected.
In western Kansas, a dust storm was reported to have killed eight people as high winds produced blowing dust over the interstate, causing collisions of more than 71 vehicles on the I-70.
Continue reading...Democrats from California to Illinois prepare to ‘Trump-proof’ and ‘fight to death’ against his extreme proposals
After the November elections ushered in a new era of unified Republican governance in Washington, Democratic leaders across the country are once again preparing to lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said he would convene a special legislative session next month to “safeguard California values and fundamental rights”.
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