u. s. citizen

Less than a month ago, Destiny Littleton posted on Instagram about a whimsical visit to a McDonald’s in Jerusalem, where the former USC shooting guard is playing professional basketball.

Her posts the last four days have been decidedly different. Sirens blare in the background as she anxiously tries to locate a bomb shelter. Then bombs can be heard, although Littleton can’t bring herself to say the word, instead spelling it out: “I definitely hear three or four B-O-M-B noises,” she says in video. “You didn’t hear that?”

Littleton is one of many United States citizens attempting to leave the Middle East per guidance from the U.S. State Department. The department posted on social media site X, instructing U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen countries because of safety risks and to shelter in place until they are able to do so.

The war that began when U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has grown into a regional conflict. Iran and its allies have retaliated against Israel and neighboring Gulf states.

Littleton played at USC in 2022-2023 as a graduate student, transferring after winning a national championship at South Carolina a year earlier. As a San Diego Bishop high school senior in 2016-2017, she led the nation in scoring and became the first high school player in state history to score more than 4,000 points in a career.

Littleton moved to Israel in November to play for Hapoel Jerusalem, one of the top pro teams in the country. Like anyone in Israel, her life has been upended the last several days.

She has chronicled the ordeal with a handful of Instagram posts. In one, she filmed bright flashes in the sky while saying, “There’s no siren going on right now and yet there are these things in the sky blowing up. Pretty sure they’re either missiles or drones.”

On Monday she relocated to the home of a teammate because she said the bomb shelter she had been using was tiny.

“I’m going to go pack my stuff up and go to my teammate’s house until all this is over,” she said while walking hurriedly outside. “They have a shelter there. It’s way more comfortable than that B-O-M-B shelter I was just in. It could fit five people and that was it. I was, ‘no, no, no, I don’t want to be in here.’”

Bombs could still be heard in the distance on her videos Monday and Tuesday. Littleton, like many foreigners, is trying to leave Israel as soon as possible.

“To those asking why haven’t I left, the air space is closed so nobody can go in or out,” she said. “Until that gets lifted, I will be here and remain safe with my teammates.”

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wrote on X that three of her former players — Littleton, Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan and Tiffany Mitchell — are “in a war zone” in Israel but she said Sunday that “there’s nothing you can do” because of the canceled flights.

Littleton thanked her followers in one of her latest dispatches:

“It is 11:47 p.m. on night three and I first just want to say thank you to all the strangers, all of my friends and my family who have sent countless prayers and love my way,” she said. “I’m so grateful and thankful. It means the world to me and it has got me through these three days….

“Back to the update. We have had a really quiet day today…. For a moment it felt like we are not in a war. I’ve just got to thank God and give prayers for the peace we’ve had today. My mind is at ease, just a little bit. I’m thankful for the small wins and pray as we look for a way out, try to get to a safe space, back home to America is the goal.

“I know that with everyone helping and everyone by my side, I will get there, we will get there, my teammates and everyone in the league will get there. Again, thank you. I love you guys.”

WASHINGTON — To defend an increasingly unpopular immigration crackdown during his State of the Union speech, President Trump highlighted the victims of crimes perpetuated by undocumented immigrants.

But as Democrats pointed out, the president’s lengthy speech made no reference to the U.S. citizens, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, who were killed by immigration agents.

Recent polls show public approval of Trump’s immigration policies has fallen to record lows level since he returned to the White House. One poll, released Feb. 17 by Reuters and the market research firm Ipsos, showed just 38% of respondents felt Trump was doing a good job on immigration.

Another poll, published last month by Fox News, showed 59% of voters say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “too aggressive.”

“As President Trump brags about his immigration enforcement at tonight’s State of the Union, I can think only of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti and the three dozen people who have died in ICE custody since Trump took office,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) wrote on X.

Within the first few minutes of his address on Tuesday night, Trump highlighted “the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far.” He also offered — at least momentarily — a softer tone, adding that “We will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country.”

In reality, the administration has restricted legal immigration. It has revoked humanitarian benefits for hundreds of thousands of people, and an indefinite pause on all asylum applications filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Guests invited by various lawmakers to attend Trump’s speech offered dueling visions of the administration’s mass deportation effort.

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) said he would bring the father and brother of Sarah Root, who was killed in 2016 after a drunk driver, who was in the U.S. illegally, crashed into her vehicle. Trump held an event Monday for “angel families,” those with a relative who was killed by an undocumented immigrant, and signed a proclamation honoring such victims of crimes.

Democrats, meanwhile, invited immigrants, family members of those detained or deported, and U.S. citizens who were violently arrested by immigration agents.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), for example, said he was bringing the daughter of a Laguna Niguel couple deported last year to Colombia after their arrest during a routine check-in with ICE. And Rep. Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.) invited Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman shot five times by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum.

On X, the Department of Homeland Security shot back at Democrats with immigrant guests, saying the lawmakers are “once again prioritizing illegal aliens above the safety of American citizens.”

On Tuesday morning, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) held a news conference on “the state of immigration,” flanked by Christian pastors, in which she touted her Dignity Act, which would provide permanent legal status to immigrants who meet certain benchmarks.

“Throughout the Scripture, there are two kinds of leaders: those who persecute faith communities and those who protect them,” she said.

California Sen. Adam Schiff was among the Democrats to boycott Trump’s speech, and he cited immigration enforcement as one reason for his absence.

“I have not missed the State of the Union in the 25 years I’ve been in Congress, but we have never had a president violate the Constitution, the laws every day with seeming impunity,” Schiff told Meidas Touch outside the Capitol. “We’ve never had masked armed, poorly trained agents, victimizing our cities, demanding to see people’s papers.”

Trump repeated claims about immigration that have been debunked, such as his assertion that President Biden’s immigration polices allowed millions of people to pour into the U.S. from prisons and mental institutions.

Trump also highlighted a figure he has often turned to — that Democrats let in “11,888 murderers.” That number, an inaccurate description of federal data, refers to immigrants who, over the course of decades (including the first Trump administration) were convicted of homicide, usually after their arrival in the U.S. Those immigrants are listed on ICE’s “non-detained docket” typically because they are currently serving their prison sentences.

Turning to Minnesota, Trump said Somalis have defrauded $19 billion from American taxpayers and referred to them derogatorily as “Somali pirates.”

Trump went beyond Somalis to disparage many immigrants, saying “there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruptions and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.”

“Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA, and it is the American people who pay the price,” he said.

Trump also highlighted the case of Dalilah Coleman, 6, of Bakersfield who was left with a traumatic brain injury after a 2024 car crash in California.

He called on Congress to pass the Dalilah Law, which would bar states from granting commercial drivers licenses to immigrants without lawful status. He said, without proof, that “most illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs.”

A year after Dalilah’s accident her family met with Partap Singh, the detained Indian immigrant responsible for the crash, at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. Marcus Coleman, her father, told Fox26 News that the focus shouldn’t be on Singh’s legal status because similar accidents happen every day.

Also present Tuesday night were the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, the West Virginia National Guard member shot and killed in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan immigrant, as well as Andrew Wolfe, who was also shot and survived.

Trump awarded Wolfe and Beckstrom the Purple Heart. He called Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man charged in the shooting, a “terrorist monster.” Lakanwal legally entered the U.S. from Afghanistan through a Biden administration program in 2021 and his asylum application was approved under the Trump administration last April.

Turning his attention the fall’s midterm elections, Trump warned his supporters that if allowed back into power, Democrats would reopen the borders “to some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world.”

Trump then invited legislators to stand if they agreed with him that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Republicans stood, offering one of the longest standing ovations of the night. Democrats remained seated.

Trump told Democrats they should be ashamed for not standing up.

“You have killed Americans!” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) yelled from the audience. “You should be ashamed.”