miami

It’s business as usual for President Trump’s deportation offensive despite the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections.

In Los Angeles, masked immigration officers in body armor blocked a hospital emergency room driveway in a heavily Latino neighborhood early Saturday. In central Alabama, twin 19-year-old brothers from Venezuela were arrested while driving back to college a day after the election.

Advocates reported arrests from California to Michigan to Massachusetts. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not released numbers.

After Democrats trounced the GOP and won control of the next Congress, Trump said his immigration crackdown may have been “too tough” and suggested it was time to sit down with the rival party.

“I’d love to do something on immigration,” he said in an interview with CBS “60 Minutes” recorded Friday.

Hours later, he named Stephen Miller, the architect of his hard-line immigration agenda, as his new chief of staff. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, said his orders had not changed.

“Deportations will continue,” Mullin wrote in an online post the day after the election, warning that ICE takes no days off and that “this includes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Election Day.”

María Bilbao, a campaign coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in Miami, said she has received at least one call a day from someone detained in South Florida since the election.

“Everything remains exactly the same. The arrests have not ceased at all,” Bilbao said.

Florida Highway Patrol officers and ICE agents have detained people in their cars, as well as places including supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations. Immigrants under supervision have also been arrested when they showed up at ICE’s Miami office for their appointments.

Officers assembled outside a Los Angeles hospital

Erick Gasca, 31, got home Friday night after an evening playing board games with friends. He lives near Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles.

An “unprecedented” number of vehicles with tinted windows and no license plates were parked near the hospital’s emergency room entrance, he said.

“I thought they were going to raid the hospital or something,” he recalled.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to explain the officers’ presence there, though Bill Essayli, the top Justice Department prosecutor in Los Angeles, said they were bringing a detainee for medical treatment. Essayli said two people were arrested for assaulting federal agents.

“ICE does not target hospitals, schools, or churches,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

The agents’ presence attracted some 30 residents and passersby. Footage shot by Gasca’s cousin, Michelle Rivera, shows protesters shouting and officers pinning someone down.

The hospital said it wasn’t involved.

“White Memorial does not participate in immigration enforcement,” hospital president Daniel Fontoura said in a statement, adding it would not let such activities “compromise our commitment to patient care and safety.”

A couple is arrested at the Phoenix airport

A married couple from Orlando, Fla., was arrested Saturday at the airport in Phoenix while traveling to a funeral.

Gustavo Romanello and Agustin Baccega, both from Argentina, have work permits while they seek asylum after entering the United States about six years ago, according to Jonathan Batchelor, a family friend.

Batchelor was on the phone with them at the time. A mutual friend died Friday and the couple was visiting for the funeral Saturday. As the couple left the airport, two casually dressed officers asked if one was Agustin Baccega. Batchelor heard the officer say, “Asylum seekers are not in the United States legally.”

Batchelor said he could hear Romanello walking alongside his husband during the arrest and asking the officers how to collect his things. Batchelor said they then asked what his name was, “and then the guard said, ‘Oh, do you have another set of handcuffs? This is another one.’”

The voices grew distant, and the call then ended.

Both men remain in detention centers. They worked as acrobats in Florida and had no criminal record, Batchelor said.

“This is just taking good people who have been following the rules out of their lives and out of the lives of those who rely upon them and care about them,” Batchelor said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the arrests.

Twin brothers seized while driving back to college

The brothers were headed back to college after visiting their parents when they were stopped in a small city in central Alabama.

Luis and Carlos Orta-Santoro, 19-year-olds born in Venezuela and living in the U.S. for four years, are soccer players at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Ala.

Relatives say they have pending asylum applications, valid work permits, and no criminal records. Both are now in an immigration detention facility.

“Our family is devastated,” said their aunt, Carolina Orta.

Homeland Security said that while they had entered the country legally, they had “overstayed in defiance of our laws,” and their case would be heard by an immigration judge. It said pending asylum applications do not confer legal status in the U.S.

The school said in a statement, “Both young men are valued members of the Wallace State community, and our thoughts are with them during this difficult time. We sincerely hope for a positive resolution to their situation.”

A Haitian boy is taken into custody, drawing protests in San Diego

An 8-year-old Haitian boy had been living with his uncle in San Diego since his father was deported last year. The uncle, who is not a legal guardian, took him to an ICE office when the boy was summoned Nov. 4 and taken into custody.

That left the boy “without the support of their family, community and their school,” according to a letter to top administration officials from San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabi Bagula and school board members.

“Children should not lose access to education simply because of circumstances unfolding around them,” they wrote.

ICE has defended its actions.

Johny Oxeda, pastor of the Fairmount Haitian Community Church, which helped get legal representation for the boy, said he’ll ultimately benefit by going through legal channels.

Activists, though, were furious.

“This is not child protection,” said Guerline Jozef of Haitian Bridge Alliance, adding, “this is state-inflicted trauma.”

Gonzalez and Sullivan write for the Associated Press. AP reporters Gisela Salomon in Miami and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

Nov. 3, 2026 4:24 PM PT

UCLA coach Bob Chesney and the Bruins are ranked No. 8 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, a remarkable turnaround for a program that recorded three wins last season.

Chesney has led a revival in his first season that has the Bruins on track to host a playoff game if they can navigate formidable games at Minnesota on Saturday, at home against Illinois on Nov. 13, at Michigan on Nov. 21 and at home against crosstown-rival USC on Nov. 28.

The Trojans (7-2) were ranked No. 20 in the poll after their defiant 30-18 win over No. 12 Ohio State Saturday at the Coliseum.

USC has a bye this week before playing at No. 4 Indiana on Nov. 14, against Maryland on Nov. 21 and then the UCLA showdown. If the Trojans sweep those games, they likely would be in the mix for a spot in the 12-team playoff.

Miami was ranked No. 1 in the poll, followed by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Utah and No. 4 Indiana.

Boise State was ranked No. 25 and the only Group of Six team included, putting the Broncos on track to succeed Chesney’s former James Madison squad as the small conference representative in the playoff.

The College Football Playoff rankings will be released every Tuesday until the final rankings and 12-team playoff bracket are revealed on Sunday, Dec. 6, at 9 a.m. PST. The selection committee voting on the rankings includes six current athletic directors, four former head coaches, two former All-American football players and one former sportswriter.

1. Miami (8-0)

2. Georgia (7-1)

3. Utah (8-0)

4. Indiana (8-1)

5. Alabama (6-2)

6. Kentucky (7-1)

7. Texas (6-2)

8. UCLA (8-0)

9. BYU (7-1)

10. Ole Miss (6-2)

11. Notre Dame (7-1)

12. Ohio State (6-2)

13. Tennessee (6-2)

14. LSU (6-2)

15. Texas Tech (7-1)

16. Wake Forest (7-1)

17. Houston (6-2)

18. Missouri (6-2)

19. Iowa (6-2)

20. USC (7-2)

21. South Carolina (5-3)

22. Arizona (6-2)

23. Oregon (5-3)

24. Florida (5-3)

25. Boise State (7-1)

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Saturday threw out President Trump’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over an article reporting on his ties to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami ruled that the president did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice. Gayles dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled and the dismissal is permanent and incontrovertible.

The ruling said the lawsuit was “grasping at straws” as it attempted to “manufacture” flaws in the Journal’s investigative reporting.

The lawsuit was over an article the Journal published last year describing a sexually suggestive letter that the paper said bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

The letter was reportedly collected by jailed British socialite and Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell as part of a birthday album for Epstein years before he was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a reported falling-out with Trump.

The letter bearing Trump’s name includes text framed by the outline of what appears to be a hand-drawn nude woman and ends with, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to the newspaper.

Trump denied writing it and called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.”

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, accused the paper and its reporters of having “knowingly and recklessly” published “numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements,” which, it alleged, caused “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” to the president.

Collins writes for the Associated Press.

Dwyane Wade is looking much more like himself these days.

That is, the statue of Wade outside of Kaseya Center in Miami now looks much more like the retired Heat legend than it did when it was unveiled two years ago. The sculpture’s new look, featuring a redesigned head by original sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar Léon, was unveiled Friday.

The statue was meant to capture the iconic moment in 2009 when Wade jumped on a scorers’ table and declared, “This is my house!” Much of the public reaction, however, centered around how the piece looked less like the three-time NBA champion and more like Laurence Fishburne, Kelsey Grammer, Ken Norton Jr. and others.

“I heard the jokes. I saw the memes. I read the reactions. Everybody had an opinion about whether it actually looked like me,” Wade wrote in an essay published Friday on Substack. “At first, it was hard not to feel protective of it because I had spent so much time involved in the process. … But eventually, I had to take a step back and understand that the statue doesn’t belong only to me. It also belongs to Miami.”

He added: “I had to ask myself a pretty simple question: If people don’t feel that connection when they look at the face, why wouldn’t we try to make it better? So we listened and had honest conversations with everyone involved, and we all agreed to make adjustments to the head.”

When the statue was originally unveiled in October 2024, Wade had nothing but great things to say about it. He said it was his idea to immortalize that pose and that he had a lot of input on how the final product would look.

The original face on Dwyane Wade’s statue at Kaseya Center didn’t quite seem to capture the Miami Heat legend’s likeness.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

“I was just like, ‘Dude, that’s beautiful,’” Wade told reporters after the original unveiling. “Personally biased, I think it’s one of the best statues that’s been created because of what it represents for us and for me.”

Amrany also defended the statue at the time.

“We emphasized a two-second moment of his life when he jumped on the table and was in screaming mode,” Amrany told The Times in October 2024. “And that’s what it is, that’s what happens to the face when people are doing this activity, this facial activity.

“We are very dedicated to a very high detailed quality to deliver exactly what the exact photo is giving us. For somebody to say that this does not look like Dwyane Wade in action, they don’t know Dwayne Wade in action. Or they don’t remember that. And it’s OK for them to say whatever they want.”

Both artists explained the decision to revisit the project in a statement released to media outlets this week.

“After seeing the work at full scale and in its permanent environment, we identified opportunities to strengthen the portrait,” Amrany and Léon said. “We decided that the importance of Dwyane warranted making those refinements rather than accepting something we believed could be improved.”

According to Wade, “this isn’t about erasing the work that was already done or disrespecting the artists who put their time and talent into creating it. It’s about being willing to listen. It’s about recognizing when something carries meaning for more people than just yourself and being open enough to revisit it.”

He added: “I hope when people see it now, they see a better likeness of me. But more than that, I hope they see themselves. Because it may be my likeness, but it will always be our house.”

Based on the comments on an X post by the Heat showing off the changes, Heat fans seem to approve. As one person wrote, it’s the “first statue to have a redemption arc.”

A New York City man is facing charges after allegedly pulling out a knife near the set of the latest “Miami Vice” reboot.

On Friday around 11 p.m., the New York Police Department received a call about a man brandishing a knife near the intersection of Avenue N and McDonald Avenue in the borough of Brooklyn.

The caller, identified only as a 42-year-old man, told police that he had been in a verbal dispute with an “unidentified individual” when the man took out a knife, according to a police spokesperson.

The suspect was identified as Brooklyn resident Alex Perez, 23. The police spokesperson said Perez was taken into custody without incident and charged with menacing and criminal possession of a weapon. There were no reported injuries, she said.

In a video obtained by TMZ, a man the outlet identified as Perez is shown taking out a large butcher’s knife from his black sweatshirt pocket.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night. It was not immediately clear whether Perez has a lawyer.

NBC New York reported that “Miami Vice ‘85” had been filming nearby along Bay Parkway and McDonald Avenue, near Washington Cemetery.

Universal, the studio behind the film, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Joseph Kosinski, the director behind “F1” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” is directing “Miami Vice ’85.” The movie, which according to Universal was in production as of Oct. 12, features Michael B. Jordan as Tubbs and Austin Butler as Crockett, according to the company’s social media posts.

The movie is based on Anthony Yerkovich’s iconic 1980s TV cop show. A movie adaptation directed by Michael Mann, also called “Miami Vice,” came out in 2006 but was a box-office flop, The Times reported at the time.

Josh Hoover had a four-yard touchdown run in overtime and No. 6 Indiana then kept Michigan out of the end zone in a 13-6 win on Saturday in Ann Arbor.

The defending national champion Hoosiers (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) avoided losing two in a row for the first time in three years with coach Curt Cignetti — and won at the Big House for the first time since 1967.

The Wolverines (4-3, 1-3) started quarterback Tommy Carr and sat Bryce Underwood, but the freshman didn’t fare as well as he did last week coming off the bench in a win over Penn State.

Carr lost a fumble on an ill-advised pitch in the first quarter and had a pass intercepted in the second half. He took sacks in the second and third quarters that led to missed field goals, including a 32-yard kick after advancing to the Indiana one-yard line.

Michigan reached the Hoosiers three in the final minute of regulation when Carr was sacked for a fourth time, leading to a 26-yard field goal as time expired.

at Cincinnati 37, No. 8 Texas Tech 24: Cole Tabb had a career-high 173 rushing yards and a touchdown while JC French IV threw for a career-high four touchdown passes in the Bearcats’ stunning upset.

It was the Bearcats first win over a top-10 team at home since Nov. 18, 2006, when they defeated No. 7 Rutgers 30-11. Cincinnati won at ninth-ranked Notre Dame in 2021.

The Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1) failed go 7-0 for the first time since 2013 and were plagued by mistakes all afternoon.

at No. 1 Miami 52, Pittsburgh 23: Malachi Toney had a school-record 16 catches and Dariah Mensah threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns in the Hurricanes’ first game as the nation’s top-ranked team in nearly 24 years.

Toney finished with 194 receiving yards and three touchdown catches, while Javian Mallory rushed for two scores and Mark Fletcher Jr. moved into the No. 2 spot on Miami’s all-time list with the 33rd rushing TD of his career.

Miami native Blue Hicks had five catches for 149 yards and a touchdown for Pitt (5-3, 2-3), which dropped its third consecutive game.

No. 10 Louisiana State 38, at Auburn 17: Sam Leavitt accounted for four touchdowns, including two throws to speedster Jackson Harris, and the visitors ended an eight-game, road-losing streak in Southeastern Conference play.

Leavitt completed 32 of 45 passes for a career-high 387 yards, ran for 54 more and played turnover-free football for the second consecutive week.

LSU (6-2, 4-2 SEC) scored on five of six possessions in the first half to take a commanding 31-10 lead into halftime. Harris caught nine passes for 178 yards, scoring on a 10-yard strike and turning a 12-yard crossing route into a 70-yard sprint.

Auburn (4-3, 2-3) seemed to have a letdown a week after stunning then-No. 1 Georgia on the road.

at No. 23 Southern Methodist 59, California 20: Kevin Jennings threw three touchdowns to break the Mustangs’ career record while Kendrick Raphael ran for 104 yards while accounting for three scores, two on fourth-down plays, in the rout.

SMU (6-1, 4-1 ACC) trailed at halftime before scoring touchdowns on their first six drives after the break, when it gained 306 of its 492 total yards. Jennings, already SMU’s career leader for passing yards (9,766) and completions (781), surpassed the 72 scoring passes by Tanner Mordecai from 2021-22.

Freshman running back Christian Rhodes had touchdown runs of five and three yards in SMU’s scoring surge in the second half, while Cal (3-5, 2-3) opened with three consecutive three-and-outs.

at No. 24 Northwestern 42, Rutgers 14: Aidan Chiles threw three touchdowns for the third time this season and rushed for two others to lead the Wildcats to a fourth straight victory.

Caleb Komolafe rushed for 150 yards and a TD, including a 56-yard dash. Griffin Wilde, who finished with 133 receiving yards, Alex Honig and Drew Wagner caught passes for scores as Northwestern (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) raced to a 28-3 lead late in the first half.

Antwan Raymond rushed for 150 yards on 18 carries and the lone Rutgers (2-5, 1-3 Big Ten) touchdown, a 46-yard run late in the third. The score was set up by the first interception thrown this season by Chiles, who finished with 219 passing yards and 83 rushing.