arrest

Aug. 5 (UPI) — Authorities in Los Angeles have arrested a man accused of shooting the driver charged with ramming his vehicle into a crowd outside a Hollywood nightclub last month, injuring dozens of people.

Efrain Villalobos, 28, was arrested at about 1:15 p.m. PDT Sunday by officers of the Redondo Beach Police Department. The Los Angeles Police Department announced the arrest Monday in a statement, saying they had taken him into custody, and Villalobos has been booked for attempted murder and is being held without bail.

He is accused of shooting Fernando Ramirez, 29, early July 19.

Ramirez is facing dozens of charges, including 37 counts of attempted murder, one count for each person injured that morning when he allegedly drove his vehicle into a crowd of people waiting at a taco truck, for valet service and to get into the East Hollywood nightclub from which he had been ejected for intoxication not long before.

Ramirez was shot in the back as bystanders pulled him from the car, sparking a manhunt for the suspect.

The LAPD released images of the alleged shooter in the days following the mass-casualty incident, calling on members of the public to help identify him.

Police named Villalobos as the suspect in a Friday statement.

No information about how police were led to Villalobos was made public.

The Los Angeles Police Department said the case will be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for consideration.

Betrayal, heartbreak and even a proposal are on the cards next week in soapland, with police intervening once again in Emmerdale after another explosive row. Get the lowdown.

Tension is at an all-time high in soapland next week, from the Yorkshire Dales to The Summer Bay.

In Emmerdale, Ruby and Manpreet go head to head after the village GP was exposed for her fling with Ross (played by Michael Parr), while Vinny continues to mask his concerns over his sexuality.

On ITV’s Coronation Street, Abi is keeping a secret of her own – her affair with brother-in-law Carl. But with fellow mechanic Tyrone around, their illicit romance could be blown out in the open. In happier news, one loved-up Corrie legend decides to give marriage another chance.

Meanwhile in EastEnders, Eve grows increasingly concerned for Avani and urges Suki to tell the rest of her family the truth. But how will Eve react when her best pal Stacey is caught up by her SecretCam past? Here’s what you need to know about all your favourite soaps – including Neighbours, Hollyoaks and Home and Away.

READ MORE: ‘Painless’ hair removal device that works in ‘weeks’ and saves on waxing is £140 off

Emmerdale

Ruby (Beth Cordingly) offers to cover the Depot for Caleb (Will Ash). But after a heated confrontation with Ruby, Manpreet (Rebecca Sarker) turns up to have it out with her. Ruby brushes Manpreet off, prompting the latter to hijack a forklift and she refuses to get off until Ruby speaks to her.

Ruby stays unbothered but when Manpreet mentions Steph, Ruby attacks her. Meanwhile at The Woolpack, Caleb is convinced the Depot is in safe hands. Later, the police make an arrest.

Vinny (Bradley Johnson) chats to Mike (Macaulay Cooper) and appreciates his friendliness as their bond grows stronger. When Mike asks Vinny if he’s gay, his confusion is clear but Vinny is grateful when Mike stays supportive.

Later, Vinny’s conflicted when he arranged to meet with Mike again. The following day, Gabby (Rosie Bentham) tells Vinny she’s spending the night at a spa and Vinny receives an urgent message from Mike, who later reveals his partner has kicked him out.

But Mike quickly turns on Vinny. Elsewhere, Charles (Kevin Mathurin) is concerned about Gabby who wants his help with something she’s keeping a secret from Vinny.

Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) persuades Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) to get on dating apps and, grabbing her phone, Nicola swipes right on Kammy’s dating profile.

Vic (Isabelle Hodgins) persuades Robert (Ryan Hawley) to spend time with Harry but John decides to meddle. Meanwhile, April’s (Amelia Flanagan) 16th birthday doesn’t go as planned.

Coronation Street

Theo (James Cartwright) is devastated when Todd (Gareth Pierce) shows him a photo of Theo’s family on a leaflet promoting “traditional family values.” In a fit of rage, Theo stands Todd up and trashes the builder’s yard – only for Gary (Mikey North) to catch him in the act.

Later, Theo begs Gary to stay away from Noah (Richard Winsor) as Theo doesn’t want anything to jeopardise his access to his children. But will Gary be deterred?

Carla (Alison King) and Lisa (Vicky Myers) attend a life drawing class together but their evening goes awry when Betsy (Sydney Martin) faces another crisis.

At the factory, Betsy shows Carla what she’s been working on. Later, Carla confides in Ryan that she’s going to propose to Lisa. Will she accept?

Meanwhile, Steve (Simon Gregson) calls at the flower shop with Cassie (Claire Sweeney) and reveals his solicitor has received a copy of the Preston Petals valuation and he wants what’s rightfully his – but Tracy’s (Kate Ford) fuming.

Later, Steve settles himself down in front of the TV and promises to keep an eye on Dorin. But the toddler vanishes, making everyone panic.

Elsewhere, Abi (Sally Carman) receives a text from Carl (Jonathan Howard) and feigns a migraine, telling Kevin she needs to go home. But at No.13, guilt gets the best of her and Carl suggests a drive. In the precinct, Tyrone (Alan Halsall) spots Carl in his car – but has he seen Abi?

EastEnders

Avani (Aaliyah James) struggles with morning sickness and Eve (Heather Peace) tries to convince Suki (Balvinder Sopal) to tell Ravi (Aaron Thiara) and Priya (Sophie Khan Levy) about the pregnancy.

Later, Avani feels self-conscious at Amy’s hot tub party and reaches for a drink but a row ensues when Suki and Eve arrive to check on her. Avani rushes off and is followed by Eve and, after a conversation, Eve agrees to support the teen.

Meanwhile, Stacey (Lacey Turner) prepares for Lily’s return but her happiness is short-lived when Jean (Gillian Wright) and Freddie (Bobby Brazier) tell her someone has leaked her SecretCam pictures and videos online.

Stacey is convinced Joel (Max Murray) is the culprit and confronts him but Ross rushes him home. Later, Stacey gets the police involved.

Harry (Elijah Holloway) finds out that Okie (Aayan Ibikunle Shoderu) and Ravi are using Kojo’s (Dayo Koleosho) flat for their illegal activities and tries to secretly intervene. But Ravi insists they need to up their game.

George (Colin Salmon) is equally concerned when Okie offers Kojo an expensive watch. But he’s grateful when Elaine (Harriet Thorpe) offers to investigate. Later, however, both Elaine and Cindy (Michelle Collins) realise there’s a new woman in George’s life.

Patrick (Rudolph Walker) returns home from hospital but he struggles with anxiety following his attack and Howie (Delroy Atkinson) feels awful when he realises how scared Patrick really is. Elsewhere, Honey (Emma Barton) prepares to apply for Mr Lister’s job and later gets bombshell news.

Hollyoaks

Sienna returns home to her family and Cleo but she locks herself in the bathroom when she learns her father Jez is gone. When he arrives, Jez faces Sienna and asks her to meet in the allotment for the truth.

Mercedes finds out Bobby’s cause of death while Tony prepares for a barbecue at The Hutch – and Ste encourages him to postpone the event. Meanwhile, Rex returns but lingers in the shadows. When alone, he approaches Ste – but how will Ste react?

Neighbours

Torn between two women, Andrew must reckon with his decision but when Holly is at the centre of a scandal, his moral compass later starts to stray – is his marriage in danger?

Krista and Paul butt heads under pressure but Paul later makes an effort to fix his mistake. Elsewhere, Remi faces a huge career setback while Nell is overwhelmed. And a new crisis is unfolding at the Lassiters Complex.

Home and Away

Cohen calls off his football game with Cash early, sad his mother hasn’t received his letters. But he soon gets an unexpected response. Bree frantically looks for Remy and calls the hospital.

Meanwhile, Remi wakes up next to Avalon. Dana wants to arrange a girl’s night out but Irene shuts her down – Dana then unpacks her concerns with John.

Lacey finds out the funds in the board shop accounts are empty and bankruptcy is only weeks away. Elsewhere, Jo comes clean to Tane – and he later drops a bombshell.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Aug. 5 (UPI) — Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the house arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro, prompting swift condemnation from the Trump administration, which has imposed penalties against those prosecuting President Donald Trump‘s ally.

Bolsonaro is being prosecuted on charges of conspiring to overturn his 2022 election loss.

In his order Monday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the house arrest of Bolsonaro on allegations he violated court-imposed precautionary measures by using the social media accounts of allies, including his three sons, one of whom is a congressman, to post statements online.

Moraes described the social media posts as a “continued attempt to coerce the STF and obstruct justice.” STF stands for Supremo Tribunal Federal, or Supreme Federal Court, in Portuguese.

“The arrest is to be served at Bolsonaro’s residence in Brasilia. He will not be allowed to receive visitors, except for his lawyers and other individuals previously authorized by the STF,” the order states. “The former president is also prohibited from using a cell phone, either directly or through third parties.”

A search and seizure of any cell phones in Bolsonaro’s possession was also ordered by Moraes, who is overseeing the criminal case.

“There is no doubt that Jair Messias Bolsonaro violated the precautionary measures imposed on him, as the defendant produced material for publication on the social media accounts of his three sons and all his followers and political supporters, with clear content encouraging and inciting attacks on the Supreme Federal Court and openly supporting foreign intervention in the Brazilian judiciary,” Moraes said.

Trump, who has similarly been accused of trying to overturn his own election loss, in 2020, is an ally of Bolsonaro, and has repeatedly used his executive powers to punish those involved in the 70-year-old politician’s prosecution, which has prompted accusations of meddling in Brazil’s judicial system.

Among the measures imposed by the American president are slapping a 40% tariff on Brazilian goods and sanctioning Moraes, as well as revoking his visas and those of his family.

The U.S. State Department on Monday night condemned the house arrest order as Moraes’ alleged continued use of “Brazil’s institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy.”

“Putting even more restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro’s ability to defend himself in public it not a public service. Let Bolsonaro speak!” the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said in both English- and Portuguese-language statements.

“The United States condemns Moraes’ order imposing house arrest on Bolsonaro and will hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct.”

Brazil charged Bolsonaro in February with attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. According to court documents, his supporters claiming voter fraud stormed Brazil’s Congress and other federal facilities on Jan. 8, 2023.

The indictment accuses Bolsonaro of spreading debunked claims of fraud in election machines as far back as July 2022 in order to prepare conditions for the coup. As part of the scheme, prosecutors said they even planned the possibility of assassinating Lula.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing, while Trump has described the trial as a “witch hunt.”

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office will not pursue charges against Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman, who was arrested on suspicion of felony weapons possession Friday night, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept. records.

Perryman was arrested after deputies allegedly discovered five firearms — including two assault-style weapons — in his vehicle during a traffic stop Friday night, the agency said in a statement. He was released from jail Monday afternoon and his arrest will be listed as a detention on his record.

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh publicly addressed the situation Monday, saying he visited with the veteran linebacker in jail over the weekend.

“He’s working through the legalities along with his representation,” said Harbaugh before Perryman’s release from jail. “Had a chance to see him yesterday, whenever I visited, and he was in good spirits. And love Denzel. He’s always done right. He’s never been in trouble. They’ve got a beautiful family.”

In training camp, Perryman was batting to be a starter at middle linebacker. In his absence, Troy Dye has taken most of the first-team snaps.

One of the veterans of the Chargers’ defense, Perryman, 32, had 55 tackles and one sack last season. He returned to the Chargers in 2024 — the team that drafted him in 2015 — after stints with the Las Vegas Raiders and the Houston Texans.

Keenan Allen reunion?

Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen catches a pass during training camp in 2023.

(Kyusung Gong / For The Times)

Despite the emergence of two rookie receivers in camp and a promising young core, the Chargers continued to explore the possibility of reuniting with veteran wideout Keenan Allen.

Allen was brought in for a workout Friday, but the team has yet to decide if they will sign him.

Harbaugh said the workout went well, noting Allen did “a lot of Keenan Allen things.”

Allen echoed those sentiments, responding to a viewer on a Twitch stream that, “The meeting went good, man. The meeting was straight.”

Harbaugh said he’s hopeful about the signing but is waiting on negotiations between general manager Joe Hortiz and Allen’s camp.

Last season with the Bears, Allen was the team’s second-leading receiver in a struggling Chicago offense. He started 15 games, was targeted 121 times, and finished with 70 receptions for 744 yards and seven touchdowns.

Throughout his career, the 33-year-old has battled injuries, missing 11 games over his final two seasons with the Chargers because of a hamstring strain and a heel bruise.

“He’s got the license to be one of the best,” Harbaugh said. “That all gets determined on the field — who we play. We play the best players. … So, like all the receivers on our team, he would have that opportunity.”

Etc.

Last year’s leading receiver, Ladd McConkey, has been working off to the side since July 29 with an undisclosed injury. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman described it as “extremely minor.” Harbaugh added that McConkey is “doing everything he can to get back” and continues to work without pads. … Mekhi Becton has also been absent from on-field reps as he deals with an injury Harbaugh called “not severe.” … Najee Harris began ramping up his conditioning this past week, doing laps around the practice field wearing a visored helmet and weight vest. Harbaugh said Harris is “doing everything he can” and is “better today than yesterday.” Harris has not yet returned to team reps, and his timetable for return is not clear.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Justice Alexandre de Moraes rules that Bolsonaro violated pre-trial precautionary measures imposed by the court.

Brazil’s Supreme Court has issued a house arrest order for former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup.

The decision, issued on Monday, comes a day after protests in support of the former far-right president were held across Brazil.

Bolsonaro is accused of seeking to overturn the 2022 election, won by his left-wing opponent, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The order was issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is facing sanctions by the administration of United States President Donald Trump for overseeing the case against Bolsonaro.

Moraes said Bolsonaro had violated precautionary measures imposed by the court restricting the former president’s social media use and political messaging.

The prosecution accuses Bolsonaro of leading an armed criminal organisation, attempting to stage a coup and attempting a violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage and deterioration of listed heritage.

A coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years.

The former president’s supporters stormed and ransacked the National Congress and other state institutions in January 2023 to reject Lula’s victory. After his defeat weeks earlier, Bolsonaro had declined to publicly concede his loss.

Bolsonaro forcefully rejects the allegations against him, describing his prosecution as a witch-hunt.

Moraes said in his decision on Monday that the former president was posting content on the social media channels of his three lawmaker sons.

The judge added that Bolsonaro has spread messages with “a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary”.

The ruling will keep Boslonaro under ankle monitoring and allow only his relatives and lawyers to visit him. All mobile phones from his home will also be seized.

Dave Edmunds suffered a “major cardiac arrest” and faces a “very long journey” to recovery, according to his wife, who detailed the Welsh musician’s health struggles in a Facebook post.

Best known perhaps for his 1970 hit “I Hear You Knocking,” Edmunds — who also formed the band Rockpile with Nick Lowe — “died in my arms while I desperately tried to keep him alive,” Cici Edmunds wrote in the July 29 post, before doctors revived him “by a miracle.” Dave Edmunds, 81, “very clearly has brain damage and severe memory loss” after the ordeal, Cici Edmunds wrote, and he faces the high risk of another cardiac arrest.

“And if that occurs there is no chance for Dave,” Cici Edmunds added.

Dave Edmunds topped the U.K. pop singles chart for six weeks in 1970 with his rendition of “I Hear You Knocking,” which the R&B singer Smiley Lewis originally popularized in the mid-1950s. Among Edmunds’ other solo hits are “Girls Talk” (written by Elvis Costello), “Born to Be with You” and a cover of the Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You.” He formed Rockpile in 1976 and later produced records by the Stray Cats and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, among other acts. He also toured as a member of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.

In her Facebook post, Cici Edmunds thanked her husband’s fans “for your support and well wishes” and said they have made “this tremendously difficult journey a little easier.”

A police report said footage appeared to show Coleman being shoved into a wall, before Richardson threw an item at him.

She was released on Monday following the incident.

Coleman did not want to participate in the investigation and “declined to be a victim”, the police officer’s report reads.

Richardson refused to speak to waiting reporters after her heat in Eugene, instead wishing them a “blessed day”.

Following her arrest, USA Track and Field said it was “aware of the reports” but would “not be commenting on this matter”.

Coleman qualified for Sunday’s men’s 200m final by finishing behind world champion Noah Lyles with a time of 20.20 secs.

Aug. 2 (UPI) — Polk County, Tenn., Sheriff’s deputies found 14 explosive devices inside the Old Fort home of Kevin Wade O’Neal, whom they arrested on Friday for allegedly threatening public officials.

The deputies were enforcing arrest warrants for O’Neal, 54, for allegedly threatening to kill Polk County law enforcement members and public officials.

Sheriff’s deputies and detectives contacted O’Neal and arrested him inside his home when they “realized something was smoldering inside the bedroom where Mr. O’Neal had been located,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“Officers observed what they believed to be an improvised explosive device inside the room” and “immediately evacuated the residence,” the PCSO said.

The Chattanooga Police Department’s bomb squad and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched the property and located 14 improvised explosive devices.

“O’Neal attempted to detonate the devices upon officers’ arrival and while they were attempting to apprehend him,” the PCSO release says.

The failed effort resulted O’Neal being charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly trying to kill the nine PCSO deputies and detectives who arrested him.

He also faces 14 counts of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of explosive components.

O’Neal remains in custody at the Polk County Jail pending the outcome of a bond hearing.

Old Fort is located about 45 miles east of Chattanooga in southeastern Tennessee.

Aug. 1 (UPI) — Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was sentenced Friday to 12 years of house arrest for bribery in criminal proceedings and procedural fraud.

Uribe also was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $820,000 and was barred from holding public office for more than eight years.

Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia found Uribe guilty Thursday of those crimes and issued a historic ruling against him, making him the first former Colombian president to be criminally convicted in the country’s modern judicial history.

The ruling has polarized the country. While Uribe’s supporters denounce it as “political persecution,” many victims of human rights violations say it finally sets a precedent for justice.

Uribe’s legal team is to have Bogotá Superior Court consider an appeal Aug. 11, leaving uncertainty over whether the sentence will be enforced or suspended while the appeal process proceeds.

The case began in 2012, when then-Sen. Álvaro Uribe filed a complaint against Sen. Iván Cepeda Castro, accusing him of witness tampering in an effort to link Uribe to illegal armed groups. But the investigation soon took an unexpected turn.

The Supreme Court of Justice, which initially investigated Cepeda, found evidence that individuals close to Uribe had offered financial, legal and administrative benefits to former paramilitaries and guerrilla fighters in exchange for testimony against Cepeda.

Uribe was then charged with manipulating evidence and misleading the justice system to influence judges and secure rulings favorable to his interests — in the very investigation he had initiated against Cepeda.

After the sentencing, Historical Pact Sen. Wilson Arias said. “Twelve years in prison for Álvaro Uribe– and no, this is not political persecution. No one reported him: he initiated a vendetta against Iván Cepeda and, along the way, committed the crimes of witness tampering and procedural fraud,” the Colombian newspaper El Mundo reported.

On her X account, Rep. Alexandra Vásquez wrote that “justice has spoken and stood above economic and political power.”

Former President Iván Duque released a video in which he claimed that a group of 28 former presidents from IDEA and Libertad y Democracia have called for international oversight due to serious irregularities in the case against Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

“Human rights treaties were violated, and there is not a single piece of evidence to justify a conviction. Uribe is innocent,” he said.

Christian Garcés Aljure, a member of Colombia’s House of Representatives, wrote on X: “They want to silence our top leader — the man holding back the socialist advance in South America. They will not defeat us!”

During his presidency, Uribe implemented a policy known as “Democratic Security,” which reduced kidnapping and homicide rates and supported the demobilization of paramilitary and guerrilla forces.

However, Uribe also faced sharp criticism over alleged human rights violations and the demobilization of paramilitary groups with impunity. His presidency was further overshadowed by the “false positives” scandal, in which thousands of civilians were killed by the military and falsely labeled as guerrilla fighters killed in combat.

According to the investigation, between 2012 and 2018, imprisoned paramilitaries were paid and pressured to change their testimony linking Uribe to illegal armed groups.

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest following his conviction for witness-tampering and bribery, according to local media reports.

The sentencing hearing on Friday also resulted in Uribe, 73, receiving a fine of $578,000 and a ban from serving in public office for 100 months and 20 days — or just over eight years.

He is now required to report to authorities in Rionegro, in his home province of Antioquia. Afterwards, Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia ordered him to “proceed immediately to his residence where he will comply with house arrest”.

With his conviction on July 28, Uribe has become the first former Colombian president to be found guilty in a criminal trial.

But Uribe’s defence lawyers have already announced that they plan to appeal.

The sentencing culminates a six-month trial and nearly 13 years of legal back-and-forth for the popular conservative leader, who is considered one of the defining forces in modern-day Colombian politics.

His house arrest also comes less than a year before Colombia is set to hold presidential elections in May 2026.

Allegations of human rights abuses

The case centres around Uribe’s role in Colombia’s more than six-decade-long internal conflict, which has seen government forces, right-wing paramilitaries, left-wing rebel groups and drug-trafficking networks all fighting for control over parts of the country.

During his tenure as president from 2002 to 2010, Uribe led a strong-armed offensive against left-wing rebels like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest such group at the time.

But that approach earned him criticism for alleged human rights abuses, which he has denied.

Under his presidency, the Colombian military faced increasing accusations that it was killing civilians to boost the number of enemy fighters it could report as dead.

This practice, known as the “false positives” scandal, has been implicated in the deaths of at least 2,000 people, with experts indicating that the number could be far higher. As many as 6,402 killings have been investigated.

Critics have also questioned Uribe’s ties to right-wing paramilitaries, another allegation the ex-president has rejected.

But more than a decade ago, Uribe took action to silence one of his most prominent critics, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda, sparking his current trial.

Cepeda and others had drawn connections between Uribe’s rise in politics in the 1990s and the creation of the paramilitary group Bloque Metro.

A legal boomerang

In 2012, Uribe filed a libel complaint against Cepeda with Colombia’s Supreme Court, after the senator launched a probe into the ex-president’s paramilitary contacts.

But in 2018, the case took a surprising new direction: The Supreme Court dismissed the complaint against Cepeda, and the court system instead started to weigh charges against Uribe instead.

Prosecutors accused Uribe of seeking to pressure paramilitary witnesses to change or suppress their testimony. While Uribe has admitted to sending lawyers to meet former members of Colombia’s paramilitaries, he has denied taking illegal actions.

Two paramilitaries have testified that Uribe’s lawyer, Diego Cadena, who also faces criminal charges, offered them money to give favourable evidence.

Their witness statements were also being used in a murder trial featuring Uribe’s brother, Santiago Uribe.

Uribe’s conviction was announced after a 10-hour hearing in which Judge Heredia said there was ample evidence that the ex-president sought to change witness testimony.

But that decision has sparked backlash from the United States, where the administration of President Donald Trump has shown a willingness to place political pressure on countries like Brazil that pursue criminal cases against former right-wing leaders.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media in defence of Uribe, repeating charges of judicial bias that have become commonplace under Trump.

“Former Colombian President Uribe’s only crime has been to tirelessly fight and defend his homeland,” Rubio said. “The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent.”

But Democrats in the US accused Trump of seeking to subvert the rule of law overseas for political gains.

“The Trump Admin is saying that foreign leaders shouldn’t be subject to rule of law if they say nice things about Trump,” Representative Jim McGovern wrote in reply to Rubio’s message.

“It is very wrong to support impunity for a strongman held accountable by courts in his own country. This statement is shameful, and you know it.”

Marcus Morris Sr. was denied bond during a hearing Tuesday morning in Florida’s Broward County two days after the former NBA player was arrested at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on felony fraud charges out of Nevada.

The judge denied Morris’ motion to set bond, saying that she did not have the jurisdiction to make such a ruling for an out-of-state case.

Footage from Tuesday’s hearing, posted online by TMZ, shows Morris in attendance, wearing a jail-issued beige jumpsuit and handcuffs. NBA free agent Markieff Morris also attended in support of his twin brother.

Records from the Las Vegas Township Justice Court indicate that warrants were issued earlier this year, one in March and the other in June, for Morris’ arrest. The Boca Raton, Fla., resident faces the same two felony counts in each case — drawing or passing a check for $1,200 or more with the intent to defraud and theft valued at $100,000 or more.

Yony Noy, an agent for Morris, has maintained on social media that Morris’ legal troubles stem from an outstanding marker with a casino.

During the proceedings, the prosecuting attorney representing the state of Florida, confirmed that there are two warrants for Morris’ arrest in Nevada and both are for outstanding markers for more than $100,000 each.

The prosecuting attorney also indicated that although Nevada is looking to extradite Morris, it is also willing to consider dismissing the charges if Morris’ debts are paid in full. An attorney representing Morris said that “a large payment” had already been sent via wire in an effort to resolve the issue.

Morris made more than $100 million in salary during an 11-year NBA career that included four seasons with the Clippers.

They called them the “worst of the worst.” For more than a month and a half, the Trump administration has posted a barrage of mugshots of L.A. undocumented immigrants with long rap sheets.

Officials have spotlighted Cuong Chanh Phan, a 49-year-old Vietnamese man convicted in 1997 of second–degree murder for his role in slaying two teens at a high school graduation party.

They have shared blurry photos on Instagram of a slew of convicted criminals such as Rolando Veneracion-Enriquez, a 55-year-old Filipino man convicted in 1996 of sexual penetration with a foreign object with force and assault with intent to commit a felony. And Eswin Uriel Castro, a Mexican convicted in 2002 of child molestation and in 2021 of assault with a deadly weapon.

But the immigrants that the Department of Homeland Security showcase in X posts and news releases do not represent the majority of immigrants swept up across Los Angeles.

As the number of immigration arrests in the L.A. region quadrupled from 540 in April to 2,185 in June, seven out of 10 immigrants arrested in June had no criminal conviction — a trend that immigrant advocates say belies administration claims that they are targeting “heinous illegal alien criminals” who represent a threat to public safety.

According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of ICE data from the Deportation Data Project, the proportion of immigrants without criminal convictions arrested in seven counties in and around L.A. has skyrocketed from 35% in April, to 46% in May, and to 69% from June 1 to June 26.

Austin Kocher, a geographer and research assistant professor at Syracuse University who specializes in immigration enforcement, said the Trump administration was not being entirely honest about the criminal status of those they were arresting.

Officials, he said, followed a strategy of focusing on the minority of violent convicted criminals so they could justify enforcement policies that are proving to be less popular.

“I think they know that if they were honest with the American public that they’re arresting people who cook our food, wash dishes in the kitchen, take care of people in nursing homes, people who are just living in part of the community … there’s a large segment of the public, including a large segment of Trump’s own supporters, who would be uncomfortable and might even oppose those kinds of immigration practices.”

In Los Angeles, the raids swept up garment worker Jose Ortiz, who worked 18 years at the Ambiance Apparel clothing warehouse in downtown L.A., before being nabbed in a June 6 raid; car wash worker Jesus Cruz, a 52-year-old father who was snatched on June 8 — just before his daughter’s graduation — from Westchester Hand Wash; and Emma De Paz, a recent widow and tamale vendor from Guatemala who was arrested June 19 outside a Hollywood Home Depot.

Such arrests may be influencing the public’s perception of the raids. Multiple polls show support for Trump’s immigration agenda slipping as masked federal agents increasingly swoop up undocumented immigrants from workplaces and streets.

ICE data shows that about 31% of the immigrants arrested across the L.A. region from June 1 to June 26 had criminal convictions, 11% had pending criminal charges and 58% were classified as “other immigration violator,” which ICE defines as “individuals without any known criminal convictions or pending charges in ICE’s system of record at the time of the enforcement action.”

The L.A. region’s surge in arrests of noncriminals has been more dramatic than the U.S. as a whole: Arrests of immigrants with no criminal convictions climbed nationally from 57% in April to 69% in June.

Federal raids here have also been more fiercely contested in Southern California — particularly in L.A. County, where more than 2 million residents are undocumented or living with undocumented family members.

“A core component of their messaging is that this is about public safety, that the people that they are arresting are threats to their communities,” said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank. “But it’s hard to maintain that this is all about public safety when you’re going out and arresting people who are just going about their lives and working.”

Trump never said he would arrest only criminals.

Almost as soon as he retook office on Jan. 20, Trump signed a stack of executive orders aimed at drastically curbing immigration. The administration then moved to expand arrests from immigrants who posed a security threat to anyone who entered the country illegally.

Yet while officials kept insisting they were focused on violent criminals, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a warning: “That doesn’t mean that the other illegal criminals who entered our nation’s borders are off the table.”

As White House chief advisor on border policy Tom Homan put it: “If you’re in the country illegally, you got a problem.”

Still, things did not really pick up until May, when White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered ICE’s top field officials to shift to more aggressive tactics: arresting undocumented immigrants, whether or not they had a criminal record.

Miller set a new goal: arresting 3,000 undocumented people a day, a quota that immigration experts say is impossible to reach by focusing only on criminals.

“There aren’t enough criminal immigrants in the United States to fill their arrest quotas and to get millions and millions of deportations, which is what the president has explicitly promised,” Bier said. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement says there’s half a million removable noncitizens who have criminal convictions in the United States. Most of those are nonviolent: traffic, immigration offenses. It’s not millions and millions.”

By the time Trump celebrated six months in office, DHS boasted that the Trump administration had already arrested more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants.

“70% of ICE arrests,” the agency said in a news release, “are individuals with criminal convictions or charges.”

But that claim no longer appeared to be true. While 78% of undocumented immigrants arrested across the U.S. in April had a criminal conviction or faced a pending charge, that number had plummeted to 57% in June.

In L.A., the difference between what Trump officials said and the reality on the ground was more stark: Only 43% of those arrested across the L.A. region had criminal convictions or faced a pending charge.

Still, ICE kept insisting it was “putting the worst first.”

As stories circulate across communities about the arrests of law-abiding immigrants, there are signs that support for Trump’s deportation agenda is falling.

A CBS/YouGov poll published July 20 shows about 56% of those surveyed approved of Trump’s handling of immigration in March, but that dropped to 50% in June and 46% in July. About 52% of poll respondents said the Trump administration is trying to deport more people than expected. When asked who the Trump administration is prioritizing for deporting, only 44% said “dangerous criminals.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have repeatedly accused Trump of conducting a national experiment in Los Angeles.

“The federal government is using California as a playground to test their indiscriminate actions that fulfill unsafe arrest quotas and mass detention goals,” Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom told The Times. “They are going after every single immigrant, regardless of whether they have a criminal background and without care that they are American citizens, legal status holders and foreign-born, and even targeting native-born U.S. citizens.”

When pressed on why ICE is arresting immigrants who have not been convicted or are not facing pending criminal charges, Trump administration officials tend to argue that many of those people have violated immigration law.

“ICE agents are going to arrest people for being in the country illegally,” Homan told CBS News earlier this month. “We still focus on public safety threats and national security threats, but if we find an illegal alien in the process of doing that, they’re going to be arrested too.”

Immigration experts say that undermines their message that they are ridding communities of people who threaten public safety.

“It’s a big backtracking from ‘These people are out killing people, raping people, harming them in demonstrable ways,’ to ‘This person broke immigration law in this way or that way,’” Bier said.

The Trump administration is also trying to find new ways to target criminals in California.

It has threatened to withhold federal funds to California due to its “sanctuary state” law, which limits county jails from coordinating with ICE except in cases involving immigrants convicted of a serious crime or felonies such as murder, rape, robbery or arson.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department requested California counties, including L.A., provide data on all jail inmates who are not U.S. citizens in an effort to help federal immigration agents prioritize those who have committed crimes. “Although every illegal alien by definition violates federal law,” the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release, “those who go on to commit crimes after doing so show that they pose a heightened risk to our Nation’s safety and security.”

As Americans are bombarded with dueling narratives of good vs. bad immigrants, Kocher believes the question we have to grapple with is not “What does the data say?”

Instead, we should ask: “How do we meaningfully distinguish between immigrants with serious criminal convictions and immigrants who are peacefully living their lives?”

“I don’t think it’s reasonable, or helpful, to represent everyone as criminals — or everyone as saints,” Kocher said. “Probably the fundamental question, which is also a question that plagues our criminal justice system, is whether our legal system is capable of distinguishing between people who are genuine public safety threats and people who are simply caught up in the bureaucracy.”

The data, Kocher said, show that ICE is currently unable or unwilling to make that distinction.

“If we don’t like the way that the system is working, we might want to rethink whether we want a system where people who are simply living in the country following laws, working in their economy, should actually have a pathway to stay,” Kocher said. “And the only way to do that is actually to change the laws.”

In the rush to blast out mugshots of some of the most criminal L.A. immigrants, the Trump administration left out a key part of the story.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, its staff notified ICE on May 5 of Veneracion’s pending release after he had served nearly 30 years in prison for the crimes of assault with intent to commit rape and sexual penetration with a foreign object with force.

But ICE failed to pick up Veneracion and canceled its hold on him May 19, a day before he was released on parole.

A few weeks later, as ICE amped up its raids, federal agents arrested Veneracion on June 7 at the ICE office in L.A. The very next day, DHS shared his mugshot in a news release titled “President Trump is Stepping Up Where Democrats Won’t.”

The same document celebrated the capture of Phan, who served nearly 25 years in prison after he was convicted of second-degree murder.

CDCR said the Board of Parole Hearings coordinated with ICE after Phan was granted parole in 2022. Phan was released that year to ICE custody.

But those details did not stop Trump officials from taking credit for his arrest and blaming California leaders for letting Phan loose.

“It is sickening that Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass continue to protect violent criminal illegal aliens at the expense of the safety of American citizens and communities,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

News about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests seems to flow as if emanating from an unending tap.

That makes it difficult, at times, to pick up on important topics and issues.

I’m going to use this space to highlight a few articles from my colleagues focusing on the potential growth of ICE in the coming years, new tools that federal agents can use to expand crackdowns, and what the actual numbers say.

Trump wants to hire 10,000 ICE agents

My colleague Andrea Castillo dove into the numbers and reality of an agent hiring spree.

The massive funding bill signed into law this month by President Trump earmarks about $170 billion for border and immigration enforcement, including tens of billions for new deportation agents and other personnel.

During his first term, when Trump called for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire 15,000 people collectively, a July 2017 report by the Homeland Security inspector general found significant setbacks.

In 2017, ICE hired 371 deportation officers from more than 11,000 applications and took 173 days on average to finalize hires, the news outlet Government Executive reported. According to Cronkite News, Border Patrol shrunk by more than 1,000 agents after Trump left office in 2021.

The Homeland Security inspector general concluded that to meet the goal of 10,000 new immigration officers, ICE would need more than 500,000 applicants. For CBP to hire 5,000 new agents, it would need 750,000 applicants.

Castillo added that past and potentially future corruption, the prospect of lowering hiring standards and competition with other police agencies make Trump’s hiring goal an uphill battle.

For more, check out her entire article here.

ICE is accessing Medicaid records

My colleagues Jenny Jarvie and Hannah Fry noted that the Trump administration is forging ahead with a plan to hand over the personal data of millions of Medicaid recipients to Homeland Security personnel seeking to track down people living in the U.S. illegally.

The huge trove of private information includes home addresses, Social Security numbers and ethnicities of 79 million Medicaid enrollees.

The plan, which has not been announced publicly, is the latest step by the Trump administration to deliver on its pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and arrest 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day.

California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff warned last month of potential violations of federal privacy laws as Trump officials made plans to share personal health data.

Undocumented immigrants are not permitted to enroll in Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for low-income individuals.

However, federal law requires states to offer emergency Medicaid, coverage that pays for lifesaving services in emergency rooms to everyone, including non-U.S. citizens.

Check out the full article here.

Homeland Security says it arrested 2,800 undocumented people between early June and July

Colleagues Michael Wilner and Rachel Uranga reported on the number of people picked up in the Greater Los Angeles area by Homeland Security.

Federal authorities said earlier that 1,618 undocumented immigrants had been detained between June 6 — the start of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation in Los Angeles — and June 22. That total increased by nearly 1,200 arrests in just over two weeks. Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines in the city days after the operation began amid heated protests.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and local officials have repeatedly criticized federal operations for terrorizing immigrant communities, where business has slowed and many have holed up in their homes.

The president’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles has been a test case for his administration as it presses the bounds of executive authority, deploying federal agents and the military to a major metropolitan city with leadership hostile to its cause.

For more, here’s the complete article.

The week’s biggest stories

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

East Los Angeles Sheriff’s station explosion

Crime, courts and policing

Housing and the environment

More big stories

This week’s must reads

More great reads

For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Affairs

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff writer
Diamy Wang, homepage intern
Izzy Nunes, audience intern
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

BEAVERTON, Ore. — Parents at a preschool in a Portland suburb are reeling after immigration officers arrested a father in front of the school during morning drop-off hours, breaking his car window to detain him in front of children, families and staffers.

“I feel like a day care, which is where young children are taken care of, should be a safe place,” Natalie Berning said after dropping off her daughter at the Montessori in Beaverton on Friday morning. “Not only is it traumatizing for the family, it’s traumatizing for all the other children as well.”

Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a 38-year-old chiropractor and citizen of Iran, was initially pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers while driving his child to the school Tuesday. After asking whether he could drop off the child first, he continued driving and called his wife to tell her what happened, according to his wife, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of privacy concerns for her and her child.

His wife rushed to the school, took their child from his car and brought him inside. Khanbabazadeh stayed in the vehicle in the parking lot and asked whether he could move somewhere not on school grounds out of consideration for the children and families, his wife said. He pulled out of the lot and onto the street and began to open the car door to step out when agents broke the window and took him into custody, according to his wife.

Kellie Burns, who has two children attending the preschool, said her husband was there and heard the glass shatter.

“More than anything we want to express how unnecessarily violent and inhumane this was,” she said. “Everyone felt helpless. Everyone was scared.”

ICE said it detained Khanbabazadeh because he overstayed his visa, which his wife disputes.

“Officers attempted to arrest Khanbabazadeh during a traffic stop when he requested permission to drop his child off at daycare,” ICE said in a statement. “Officers allowed him to proceed to the daycare parking lot where he stopped cooperating, resisted arrest and refused to exit his vehicle, resulting in ICE officers making entry by breaking one of the windows to complete the arrest.”

Immigration officials have dramatically ramped up arrests across the country since May. Shortly after President Trump took office in January, his administration lifted restrictions on making immigration arrests at schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship, stirring fears about going to places once considered safe spaces.

After U.S. military strikes on Iran in June, officials trumpeted immigration arrests of Iranians, some of whom settled in the United States long ago.

Khanbabazadeh’s wife said he has always maintained lawful status. After he arrived on a valid student visa and they subsequently married, she said, they submitted all required paperwork to adjust his status and were waiting for a final decision following their green card interview months ago.

Khanbabazadeh is being held at the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Wash., she said.

Guidepost Global Education, which oversees the Montessori school, called the incident “deeply upsetting.”

“We understand that this incident raises broader questions about how law enforcement actions intersect with school environments,” Chief Executive Maris Mendes said in a statement. “It is not lost on us how frightening and confusing this experience may have been for those involved — especially for the young children who may have witnessed it while arriving at school with their parents.”

Parents said they want to support the family and teachers.

“We know it’s happening across the country, of course, but no one is prepared for their preschool … to deal with it,” Burns said. “It’s really been a nightmare.”

Rush writes for the Associated Press.

July 18 (UPI) — Two Iranian graduate students in Louisiana have been released from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement custody after lawyers took issue with ICE agents using a “ruse” to “lure” them outside to be arrested.

The couple was released this week and all proceedings against them dropped after their lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the procedure surrounding the June 22 arrest at an off-campus apartment in Baton Rouge, La.

ICE agents convinced Pouria Pourhosseinhendabad and Parisa Firouzabadi they were there to speak to the mechanical engineering students about a hit-and-run reported the two had reported weeks earlier.

When the married couple stepped outside to show police their vehicle, they were taken into custody and later challenged the detention in immigration court.

Pourhosseinhendabad and Firouzabadi are both doctoral students at Louisiana State University, having arrived in the United States in 2023. Both are legally allowed to remain in the country, although Firouzabadi’s student visa was not formally renewed.

“There’s a significant problem with how the two of them were arrested, because there were no exigent circumstances that required any type of Ruse,” ACLU of Louisiana Legal Director Nora Ahmed told WBRZ-TV in an interview.

Ahmed said ICE agents at the time came only with an administrative warrant that does not require a person to permit law enforcement entry into a dwelling.

She said the federal officials could easily have obtained the necessary judicial warrant that would have made the arrest permissible.

“So, it appears that there was some type of desire not to get that judicial warrant to enter the home, but they could have done that because there were no exigent circumstances that required them to enter the home,” Ahmen said.

Pourhosseinhendabad and Firouzabadi were arrested after an anonymous tip to ICE, The Illuminator reported.

Court documents uploaded weeks after the arrest show the reason for the detention as visa-related, noting that Firouzabadi was deportable because of a lack of renewal. Pourhosseinhendabad’s visa remains current. The two were held in separate detention centers in Mississippi.

The arrest came a day after U.S. warplanes attacked three Iranian military sites linked to enriched uranium.

Days later, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security warned of a “heightened threat environment” because of the attacks on Iran.

“There’s still a visa revocation charge on her (Firouzabadi) updated document, but we no longer see any suggestion of espionage or sabotage,” Ahmed told WBRZ-TV.

“That’s also deeply concerning because it would suggest that there was bombing, arrest, an attempt at justification, and then a review as to whether those charges could stand, and then a retraction of that, but it takes days for any of that to occur.”

BOSTON — Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s campaign of arresting and deporting college faculty and students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations spent the first few days of the trial showing how the crackdown silenced scholars and targeted more than 5,000 protesters.

The lawsuit, filed by several university associations, is one of the first against President Trump and members of his administration to go to trial. Plaintiffs want U.S. District Judge William Young to rule that the policy violates the 1st Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

The government argues that no such policy exists and that it is enforcing immigration laws legally to protect national security.

Investigating protesters

One of the key witnesses was Peter Hatch, who works for the Homeland Security Investigations unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Over two days of testimony, Hatch told the court a “Tiger Team” was formed in March — after two executive orders that addressed terrorism and combating antisemitism — to investigate people who took part in the protests.

Hatch said the team received as many as 5,000 names of protesters and wrote reports on about 200 who had potentially violated U.S. law. The reports, several of which were shown in court Thursday, included biographical information, criminal history, travel history and affiliations with pro-Palestinian groups as well as press clips and social media posts on their activism or allegations of their affiliation with Hamas or other anti-Israel groups.

Until this year, Hatch said, he could not recall a student protester being referred for a visa revocation.

“It was anything that may relate to national security or public safety issues, things like: Were any of the protesters violent or inciting violence? I think that’s a clear, obvious one,” Hatch testified. “Were any of them supporting terrorist organizations? Were any of them involved in obstruction or unlawful activity in the protests?”

Among the report subjects were Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was released last month after 104 days in federal immigration detention. Khalil has become a symbol of Trump’s clampdown on the protests.

Another was Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was released in May from a Louisiana facility. She spent six weeks in detention after she was arrested while walking on the street of a Boston suburb. She says she was illegally detained following an op-ed she cowrote last year criticizing the school’s response to the war in Gaza.

Hatch also acknowledged that most of the names came from Canary Mission, a group that says it documents people who “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.” The right-wing Jewish group Betar was another source, he said.

Hatch said most of the leads were dropped when investigators could not find ties to protests and the investigations were not inspired by a new policy but rather a procedure in place at least since he took the job in 2019.

What is Canary Mission?

Weeks before Khalil’s arrest, a spokesperson for Betar told the Associated Press that the activist topped a list of foreign students and faculty from nine universities that it submitted to officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who made the decision to revoke Khalil’s visa.

The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that it was not working with Betar and refused to answer questions about how it was treating reports from outside groups.

In March, speculation grew that administration officials were using Canary Mission to identify and target student protesters. That’s when immigration agents arrested Ozturk.

Canary Mission has denied working with administration officials, while noting speculation that its reports led to that arrest and others.

While Canary Mission prides itself on outing anyone it labels as antisemitic, its leaders refuse to identify themselves and its operations are secretive. News reports and tax filings have linked the site to a nonprofit based in the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. But journalists who have visited the group’s address, listed in documents filed with Israeli authorities, have found a locked and seemingly empty building.

In recent years, news organizations have reported that several wealthy Jewish Americans made cash contributions to support Canary Mission, disclosed in tax paperwork filed by their personal foundations. But most of the group’s funding remains opaque, funneled through a New York-based fund that acts as a conduit for Israeli causes.

Were student protesters targeted?

Attorneys for the plaintiffs pressed a State Department official Friday over whether protests were grounds for revoking a student’s visa, repeatedly invoking several cables issued in response to Trump’s executive orders as examples of policy guidance.

But Maureen Smith, a senior advisor in the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, said protest alone wasn’t a critical factor. She wasn’t asked specifically about pro-Palestinian protests.

“It’s a bit of a hypothetical question. We would need to look at all the facts of the case,” she said. “If it were a visa holder who engages in violent activity, whether it’s during a protest or not — if they were arrested for violent activity — that is something we would consider for possible visa revocation.”

Smith also said she didn’t think a student taking part in a nonviolent protest would be a problem but said it would be seen in a “negative light” if the protesters supported terrorism. She wasn’t asked to define what qualified as terrorism nor did she provide examples of what that would include.

Scholars scared by the crackdown

The trial opened with Megan Hyska, a green card holder from Canada who is a philosophy professor at Northwestern University, detailing how efforts to deport Khalil and Ozturk prompted her to scale back her activism, which had included supporting student encampments and protesting in support of Palestinians.

“It became apparent to me, after I became aware of a couple of high-profile detentions of political activists, that my engaging in public political dissent would potentially endanger my immigration status,” Hyska said.

Nadje Al-Ali, a green card holder from Germany and professor at Brown University, said that after the arrests of Khalil and Ozturk, she canceled a planned research trip and a fellowship to Iraq and Lebanon, fearing that “stamps from those two countries would raise red flags” upon her return. She also declined to take part in anti-Trump protests and dropped plans to write an article that was to be a feminist critique of Hamas.

“I felt it was too risky,” Al-Ali said.

Casey writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Adam Geller in New York contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — On a recent afternoon, Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment, cradling his 10-week-old son as he thought back to the pre-dawn hours spent pacing a frigid immigration jail in Louisiana, awaiting news of the child’s birth in New York.

For a moment, the outspoken Palestinian activist found himself uncharacteristically speechless.

“I cannot describe the pain of that night,” Khalil said finally, gazing down as the baby, Deen, cooed in his arms. “This is something I will never forgive.”

Now, weeks after regaining his freedom, Khalil is seeking restitution. On Thursday, his lawyers filed a claim for $20 million in damages against the Trump administration, alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests.

The filing — a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act — names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department.

It comes as the deportation case against Khalil, a 30-year-old recent graduate student at Columbia University, continues to wind its way through the immigration court system.

The goal, Khalil said, is to send a message that he won’t be intimidated into silence.

“They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable,” Khalil said. “Unless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.”

Khalil plans to share any settlement money with others targeted in Trump’s “failed” effort to suppress pro-Palestinian speech. In lieu of a settlement, he said he would also accept an official apology and changes to the administration’s deportation policies.

In an emailed statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, called Khalil’s claim “absurd,” accusing him of “hateful behavior and rhetoric” that threatened Jewish students.

A State Department spokesperson said its actions toward Khalil were fully supported by the law. Inquiries to the White House and ICE were not immediately returned.

Harsh conditions and an ‘absurd’ allegation

The filing accuses President Trump and other officials of mounting a haphazard and illegal campaign to “terrorize him and his family,” beginning with Khalil’s March 8 arrest.

On that night, he said he was returning home from dinner with his wife, Noor Abdalla, when he was “effectively kidnapped” by plainclothes federal agents, who refused to provide a warrant and appeared surprised to learn he was a legal U.S. permanent resident.

He was then whisked overnight to an immigration jail in Jena, La., a remote location that was “deliberately concealed” from his family and attorneys, according to the filing.

Inside, Khalil said he was denied his ulcer medication, forced to sleep under harsh fluorescent lights and fed “nearly inedible” food, causing him to lose 15 pounds. “I cannot remember a night when I didn’t go to sleep hungry,” Khalil recalled.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration publicly celebrated the arrest, promising to deport him and others whose protests against Israel it dubbed “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”

Khalil, who has condemned antisemitism before and since his arrest, was not accused of a crime and has not been linked to Hamas or any other terrorist group. “At some point, it becomes like reality TV,” Khalil said of the allegations. “It’s very absurd.”

Deported for beliefs

A few weeks into his incarceration, Khalil was awoken by a fellow detainee, who pointed excitedly to his face on a jailhouse TV screen. A new memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged Khalil hadn’t broken the law, but argued he should be deported for beliefs that could undermine U.S. foreign policy interests.

“My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide,” Khalil said. “It’s as simple as that.”

By then, Khalil had become something of a celebrity in the 1,200-person lock-up. When not dealing with his own case, he hosted “office hours” for fellow immigrant detainees, leaning on his past experience working at a British embassy in Beirut to help others organize paperwork and find translators for their cases.

“I’m pretty good at bureaucracy,” Khalil said.

At night, they played Russian and Mexican card games, as Khalil listened to “one story after another from people who didn’t understand what’s happening to them.”

“This was one of the most heartbreaking moments,” he said. “People on the inside don’t know if they have any rights.”

Lost time

On June 20, after 104 days in custody, Khalil was ordered released by a federal judge, who found the government’s efforts to remove him on foreign policy grounds were likely unconstitutional.

He now faces new allegations of misrepresenting personal details on his green card application. In a motion filed late Wednesday, attorneys for Khalil described those charges as baseless and retaliatory, urging a judge to dismiss them.

The weeks since his release, Khalil said, have brought moments of bliss and intense personal anguish.

Fearing harassment or possible arrest, he leaves the house less frequently, avoiding large crowds or late-night walks. But he lit up as he remembered watching Deen taking his first swim earlier in the week. “It was not very pleasant for him,” Khalil said, smiling.

“I’m trying as much as possible to make up for the time with my son and my wife,” he added. “As well thinking about my future and trying to comprehend this new reality.”

Part of that reality, he said, will be continuing his efforts to advocate against Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. On the day after his arrest, he led a march through Manhattan, draped in a Palestinian flag — and flanked by security.

As he poured Deen’s milk into a bottle, Khalil considered whether he might’ve done anything differently had he known the personal cost of his activism.

“We could’ve communicated better. We could’ve built more bridges with more people,” he said. “But the core thing of opposing a genocide, I don’t think you can do that any differently. This is your moral imperative when you’re watching your people be slaughtered by the minute.”

Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press.

A Southern California Roman Catholic bishop told his diocese of roughly one million parishioners this week that they can stay home on Sundays to avoid Mass while concerns about federal immigration sweeps still loom over the region.

Bishop Alberto Rojas of the Diocese of San Bernardino wrote in the decree Tuesday that many church-goers have shared “fears of attending mass due to potential immigration enforcement action” and that “such fear constitutes a grave inconvenience that may impede the spiritual good of the faithful.”

In lieu of Sunday service, Rojas encouraged his members to “maintain their spiritual communion” by praying the rosary or reading scripture and directed diocese ministers to offer support and compassion to the affected.

Since early June, countless Southern California families have been living in fear and gone underground amid an extraordinary federal immigration enforcement push by the Trump administration. Nearly 2,800 people have been caught up in the sweeps in the L.A. area alone, including U.S. citizens and hundreds of undocumented immigrants without any criminal record.

The threat of an immigration raid has rippled through all aspects of Southern California life, including church attendance, where some houses of worship say up to a third or half their congregants are no longer showing up in person.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, multiple people were arrested at or near diocese churches on June 20, including a man at Our Lady of Lourdes in Montclair, which ICE officials dispute.

“The accusation that ICE entered a church to make an arrest [is] FALSE,” wrote Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in an email to The Times. “The illegal alien chose to pull into the church parking lot [and] officers then safely made the arrest.”

Days later, Rojas wrote a message to worshipers on Facebook.

He said that he respected and appreciated law enforcement’s role in keeping “communities safe from violent criminals,” but added that “authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God.”

As for his latest edict allowing worshipers to forgo Mass, Rojas said it will remain in effect until further notice or until the circumstances “necessitating this decree are sufficiently resolved.”

Times staff writers Andrew Castillo, Rachel Uranga and Queenie Wong contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — Arrests continue to mount in the aggressive federal operation that began more than a month ago to track down and detain undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles, according to Homeland Security figures released Tuesday.

“DHS and its components’ immigration enforcement operations are ongoing in Los Angeles,” a Homeland Security official said in a statement provided to The Times. “Since operations began in June, ICE and CBP have arrested 2,792 illegal aliens in the L.A. area.”

Federal authorities said earlier that 1,618 undocumented immigrants had been detained between June 6 — the start of the DHS operation in Los Angeles — and June 22. The new total includes nearly 1,200 arrests in just over two weeks since then. President Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines in the city days after the operation began amid heated protests.

The latest figures were released a day after dozens of immigration agents and National Guard members swept through MacArthur Park, just west of downtown, forcing children from a summer camp to be rushed inside.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called it a “disgrace” and the action drew widespread condemnation from local officials. They have repeatedly criticized the federal operations for terrorizing immigrant communities, where business has slowed and many have holed up in their homes.

“The actions from the federal government over the last month do not represent the values of our city or of our country,” said City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the area. “Sending United States soldiers to intimidate children at camp and señoras at the bus stop is not making anyone safer. Raiding Home Depots is not stopping crime. Tearing families away from their children isn’t upholding family values. And let me be clear, this cruelty and the chaos that we see is the point.”

The president’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles has been a test case for the Trump administration as it presses the bounds of executive authority, deploying federal agents and the military to a major metropolitan city with leadership hostile to its cause of deporting mass numbers of immigrants.

The detentions have proven a challenge to local and state officials, who have been dealt setbacks in federal court over the ability of the White House to conduct enforcement operations at the local level.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has also ruled that Trump can maintain control of the California National Guard, for now, after he took the extraordinary step of federalizing the guard and deploying them to Los Angeles.

Wilner reported from Washington, Uranga from Los Angeles.