*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
We need a united, independent, democratically organized mass movement for peace, justice and equality in solidarity with similar movements worldwide if we are to survive the death agony of capitalism and its inevitable descent into fascism and barbarism before it destroys the world altogether!
—Bonnie Weinstein
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Russia Confirms Jailing of Antiwar Leader Boris Kagarlitsky
In a secret trial on June 5, 2024, the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber confirmed a sentence of five years in a penal colony for left-wing sociologist and online journalist Boris Kagarlitsky. His crime? “Justifying terrorism” — a sham charge used to silence opponents of Putin’s war on Ukraine. The court disregarded a plea for freedom sent by thirty-seven international luminaries.
Kagarlitsky, a leading Marxist thinker in Russia’s post-Soviet period, recently addressed socialists who won’t criticize Putin:
“To my Western colleagues, who…call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. [Would] you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? …In a country which…broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?”
Thousands of antiwar critics have been forced to flee Russia or are behind bars, swept up in Putin’s vicious crackdown on dissidents. Opposition to the war is consistently highest among the poorest workers. Recently, RusNews journalists Roman Ivanov and Maria Ponomarenko were sentenced to seven, and six years respectively, for reporting the military’s brutal assault on Ukraine.
A massive global solidarity campaign that garnered support from thousands was launched at Kagarlitsky’s arrest. Now, it has been revived. This internationalism will bolster the repressed Russian left and Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s imperialism.
To sign the online petition at freeboris.info
—Freedom Socialist Party, August 2024
https://socialism.com/fs-article/russia-jails-prominent-antiwar-leader-boris-kagarlitsky/#:~:text=In%20a%20secret%20trial%20on,of%20Putin's%20war%20on%20Ukraine.
Petition in Support of Boris Kagarlitsky
We, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison.
Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles.
The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested.
On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release.
The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison.
The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences.
There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering.
Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course.
We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally.
We also call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to reverse their growing repression of dissent and respect their citizens' freedom of speech and right to protest.
Sign to Demand the Release of Boris Kagarlitsky
https://freeboris.info
The petition is also available on Change.org
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical Defense Fund, Official 2024
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
1) ‘This Is What We Were Always Scared of’: DOGE Is Building a Surveillance State
By Julia Angwin, April 30, 2025
Ms. Angwin, a contributing Opinion writer, is an investigative journalist.
Julia Reising
Elon Musk may be stepping back from running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but his legacy there is already secured. DOGE is assembling a sprawling domestic surveillance system for the Trump administration — the likes of which we have never seen in the United States.
President Trump could soon have the tools to satisfy his many grievances by swiftly locating compromising information about his political opponents or anyone who simply annoys him. The administration has already declared that it plans to comb through tax records to find the addresses of immigrants it is investigating — a plan so morally and legally challenged it prompted several top I.R.S. officials to quit in protest. Some federal workers have also been told that DOGE is using A.I. to sift through their communications to identify people who harbor anti-Musk or -Trump sentiment (and presumably punish or fire them).
What this amounts to is a stunningly fast reversal of our long history of siloing government data to prevent its misuse. In their first 100 days, Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump have knocked down the barriers that were intended to prevent them from creating dossiers on every U.S. resident. Now, they seem to be building a defining feature of many authoritarian regimes: comprehensive files on everyone so they can punish those who protest.
“This is what we were always scared of,” said Kevin Bankston, a longtime civil liberties lawyer and a senior adviser on A.I. governance at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a policy and civil rights organization. “The infrastructure for turnkey totalitarianism is there for an administration willing to break the law.”
Over the past 100 days, DOGE teams have grabbed personal data about U.S. residents from dozens of federal databases and are reportedly merging it all into a master database at the Department of Homeland Security. This month, House Democratic lawmakers reported that a whistle-blower had come forward to reveal that the master database will combine data from federal agencies including the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services. The whistle-blower also alleged that DOGE workers are filling backpacks with multiple laptops, each one loaded with purloined agency data.
For years, privacy advocates, myself included, have obsessed about just how much of our data Big Tech companies possess. They know our location, monitor our browsing history and our online shopping — and use that info to make inferences about our interests and habits.
But government records contain far more sensitive information than even the tech giants possess: our incomes; our bank account numbers; if we were fired, what diseases we have, how much we gamble.
In 2009, the Georgetown law professor Paul Ohm envisioned the assemblage of a DOGE-like amount of data and called it the “database of ruin.” “Almost every person in the developed world can be linked to at least one fact in a computer database that an adversary could use for blackmail, discrimination, harassment or financial or identity theft,” Professor Ohm wrote.
We are not all the way down the rabbit hole yet. It appears that DOGE has not yet tried to scoop up data from the intelligence agencies, such as the National Security Agency, which collect vast amounts of communications between foreigners — and often catch Americans’ communications in their net. (That said, it is not encouraging that the head of the N.S.A. was recently fired, apparently at the behest of an online influencer who is friends with the president.)
Even so, the creation of a huge government database of personal information about U.S. residents is dangerous and very likely against the law. In the 1960s, the Johnson administration proposed combining all of its federal dossiers together into a new national “databank.”
The administration said it just wanted to eliminate duplicate records and perform statistical analysis, but the public was outraged. The databank was scuttled, and Congress passed the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, which requires federal agencies to obtain consent before disclosing individuals’ data across agencies.
Of the more than 30 lawsuits that involve DOGE, several allege that its data incursions violate the Privacy Act. So far, courts have ruled in plaintiffs’ favor in two of those cases, issuing orders limiting DOGE’s access to data at the Social Security Administration and Department of Treasury. Both cases are ongoing. While the orders restricted DOGE from obtaining personally identifiable data, it remains unclear what happens with data that has been already collected.
But the deeper problem is that the Privacy Act lacks real teeth. It did not give judges the ability to levy meaningful fines or easily halt illegal actions. It failed to establish an enforcement arm to investigate privacy violations in ways that courts can’t. And since then, Congress hasn’t been able to pass comprehensive new privacy laws or create stronger enforcement mechanisms.
That makes the United States the only country in the 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development without a data protection agency to enforce comprehensive privacy laws. In the European Union, each country has a dedicated data protection authority that can conduct investigations, write rules, issue fines and even demand a halt to data processing.
Without a privacy cop on the beat, Americans can submit a Privacy Act request to try to find out what data DOGE is holding about them, or hope that judges side with them in one of the dozens of lawsuits winding their way through court. Still, DOGE continues going from agency to agency grabbing data.
To pick just two recent examples: Last month, DOGE bullied its way into the federal payroll records for about 276,000 federal workers, placing the officials who objected on administrative leave; and this month, a separate whistle-blower at the National Labor Relations Board came forward with evidence showing that after DOGE workers arrived, there was a spike in data being siphoned out of the agency.
“In no other country, could a person like Elon Musk rummage through government databases and gather up the personal data of government employees, taxpayers and veterans,” said Marc Rotenberg, a longtime privacy lawyer and founder of the Center for A.I. and Digital Policy, a nonprofit research group. “There are many U.S. privacy laws. But they are only effective when enforced by dedicated privacy agencies.”
We urgently need to modernize our approach to privacy by creating a federal data protection agency with robust investigative powers.
But short of that, we still have time to stop the creation of the database of ruin. Congress could defund DOGE, or repeal Mr. Trump’s executive order establishing it, or support legislation that the Democratic senators Ed Markey and Ron Wyden have introduced to update the Privacy Act to provide more meaningful fines and criminal penalties.
This should be a bipartisan issue. Because once we create a database of ruin, none of us are safe from having our information — no matter how innocuous — used against us.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
2) Britain Joins U.S. in Strike Against Houthis in Yemen
There was no immediate comment from the American military about the joint operation, the first since President Trump took office.
By Stephen Castle, Reporting from London, April 30, 2025
A building in northern Yemen that was hit in a previous strike. In March, President Trump ordered an intensified campaign — known as “Operation Rough Rider” — against Houthi targets in the country. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Britain’s military said it had carried out a joint operation with U.S. forces against the Houthi militia in Yemen for the first time since President Trump re-entered the White House and stepped up attacks on the Iran-backed group.
There was no immediate comment from the American military about the operation, which the British Defense Ministry said early Wednesday was carried out overnight “to degrade Houthi capabilities and prevent further attacks against U.K. and international shipping.”
The joint operation came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the unclassified Signal messaging app to post sensitive details about a U.S. mission in Yemen raised questions about operational security and whether American allies would be deterred from further participation. In his leaked messages, Mr. Hegseth strongly criticized European nations describing them as “freeloading” and “pathetic.”
Typhoon jets using precision guided bombs took part in the mission on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement. The target was “a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some 15 miles south of Sana,” the statement added, referring to the Yemeni capital.
The ministry gave no details about potential casualties or damage, but said that there had been careful planning to reduce risk to civilians or nonmilitary infrastructure.
“The strike was conducted after dark, when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further,” the statement added.
Since the fall of 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in a campaign that they say is in solidarity with Palestinians under bombardment in Gaza.
Britain previously had taken part in joint strikes on Houthi targets ordered by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., which began in January 2024.
In March, President Trump ordered an intensified campaign — known as “Operation Rough Rider.” American forces have since then struck more than 800 targets, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
3) A Global Flourishing Study Finds That Young Adults, Well, Aren’t
New data collected from more than 200,000 people across the world shows that young people aren’t as happy as they used to be.
By Christina Caron, April 30, 2025
Getty Images
The happiness curve is collapsing.
For decades, research showed that the way people experienced happiness across their lifetimes looked like a U-shaped curve. Happiness tended to be high when they were young, then dipped in midlife, only to rise again as they grew old.
But recent surveys suggest that young adults aren’t as happy as they used to be, and that U-shaped curve is starting to flatten.
This pattern has shown up yet again in a new study, one of a collection of papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Mental Health. They are the first publications based on the inaugural wave of data from the Global Flourishing Study, a collaboration between researchers at Harvard and Baylor University.
The data, collected by Gallup primarily in 2023, was derived from self-reported surveys of more than 200,000 people in over 20 countries. It found that, on average, young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 were struggling — not only with happiness, but also with their physical and mental health, their perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, the quality of their relationships and their financial security. The researchers combined these measures to determine the degree that each participant was “flourishing,” or living in a state where all aspects of life were good.
The study participants had relatively low measures of flourishing on average until age 50, the study found. This was the case in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia. But the difference between the younger and older adults was largest in the United States, the researchers said.
“It is a pretty stark picture,” said Tyler J. VanderWeele, the lead author of the study and director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program. The findings raise an important question, he said: “Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?”
Young adulthood has long been considered a carefree time, a period of limitless opportunity and few obligations. But data from the flourishing study and elsewhere suggests that for many people, this notion is more fantasy than reality.
A 2023 report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, for example, found that young adults ages 18-25 in the United States reported double the rates of anxiety and depression as teens. On top of that, perfectionism has skyrocketed among college students, who often report feeling pressure to meet unrealistic expectations. Participation in community organizations, clubs and religious groups has declined, and loneliness is now becoming as prevalent among young adults as it is among older adults.
“Study after study shows that social connection is critical for happiness, and young people are spending less time with friends than they were a decade ago,” said Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale and host of “The Happiness Lab” podcast. “Plus, like folks of all ages, young people are facing a world with a whole host of global issues — from climate to the economy to political polarization.”
Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, the science director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, put it this way: “Our welfare is dependent on the welfare of every other human. We don’t just get to be happy and put a fence around ourselves.”
In her view, the flourishing data reflects the “long-term consequences of being hyperfocused on status and power,” especially in the U.S., rather than our place within a larger community.
Given that the surveys were administered at different times, in different languages and in different economic, political and cultural environments, it is challenging to directly compare the different countries, Dr. VanderWeele said. While the geographic scope of the study was vast, the current analysis does not include mainland China, where data collection was delayed. In addition, low-income countries were not represented.
Not every country saw flourishing increase with age. There were some countries, such as Poland and Tanzania, where flourishing actually decreased as people grew older. While others, including Japan and Kenya, showed the more traditional U-shaped pattern: Flourishing was highest during youth and old age.
But in most of the Western countries — and many others — young adults don’t appear to be flourishing. The Global Flourishing Study will continue to collect data annually through 2027 and attempt to uncover the reasons, Dr. VanderWeele said.
“We know that the young are in trouble,” said David G. Blanchflower, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College who was not involved in the flourishing study but whose own research has uncovered the same patterns.
Dr. Blanchflower is helping to organize a conference at Dartmouth in partnership with the United Nations so that experts can share research and ideas for solutions to the downward trend.
There are several theories as to why young people are in trouble, he said, but he suspects that the problem is largely tied to what they aren’t doing because they’re busy looking at screens.
“It’s not that they’re bowling alone,” he added, referring to Robert D. Putnam’s seminal book, published 25 years ago, that warned about the dangers of social isolation. “It’s that they are not bowling at all.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
4) Israeli Military Intervenes in Syrian Sectarian Violence
Israel launched airstrikes on Syria amid a spreading wave of sectarian violence in areas dominated by the Druse minority. Dozens of people have been killed in two days of clashes.
By Euan Ward and Aaron Boxerman, April 30, 2025
Euan Ward reported from Beirut, Lebanon and Aaron Boxerman from Jerusalem.
A funeral for members of a Druse militia who were killed fighting in Jaramana, a city on the outskirts of Damascus, on Wednesday. Credit...Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times
Israel waded into a wave of sectarian violence in Syria, launching airstrikes on Wednesday and threatening to strike Syrian government forces if clashes persist with fighters from the country’s Druse minority.
The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a group of “operatives” south of Damascus and accused them of having “attacked Druse civilians.” It did not identify the operatives. But earlier, the Israeli government said the attack targeted members of an unidentified “extremist group.”
At least 39 people — 22 of them on Wednesday — have been killed in two days of clashes between Syrians on the outskirts of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain.
The Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday came after violent clashes broke out between pro-government fighters and Druse militiamen from near the town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya, a largely Druse area south of Damascus.
The attacks on areas around Damascus with large Druse populations began overnight from Monday to Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria’s Interior Ministry said that its initial findings showed that he was not the person in the clip.
The violence is stoking fears among Syria’s many diverse ethnic and religious minorities, who have grown increasingly worried about persecution under the rule of Syria’s new Islamist leadership who overthrew the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.
The clashes began in the predominantly Druse city of Jaramana. By the end of the day Tuesday, 17 people were dead.
The unrest spread overnight into Wednesday to Ashrafieh Sahnaya, where Druse militia fighters battled “forces affiliated to the ministries of defense and interior and other proxy forces,” of the government, according to the Observatory war monitoring group.
The Syrian state news agency, SANA, said armed gunmen attacked checkpoints and vehicles belonging to government forces in Ashrafieh Sahnaya. The agency did not say who the armed gunmen were, but it was apparently making a reference to the Druse fighters.
A Syrian Interior Ministry official called the gunmen who attacked government forces “criminals” and said that the government would strike back “with an iron fist,” according to SANA.
Israel’s first airstrike on Wednesday was described as a warning against what it called “an extremist group” said to be preparing to attack members of the Druse religious minority, according to a joint statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office and the defense minister.
Israel is home to a substantial Druse community, many of whom see themselves as loyal citizens and serve in the military. Israel has offered to protect the Druse in Syria should they come under attack amid the tumultuous transition of power in the country recently.
Many Syrian Druse have rejected that offer.
Syria is a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, while the Druse are a religious group that practices a secretive religion rooted in Islam. The rebels who led the overthrow of the former dictator Bashar al-Assad belonged to a Sunni Islamist group that was once linked to Al Qaeda. They now run the government and the national military.
Since Mr. al-Assad was ousted, Israel has carried out numerous incursions in Syria, raiding villages, launching hundreds of airstrikes and destroying military outposts. Israel says that it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of hostile groups and that it does not want enemy forces to entrench themselves in areas near its borders.
Syria’s new leaders have wrestled to integrate the complex web of armed groups operating across the country into the new state apparatus. Several of the strongest Druse militias are in talks with the government about their conditions for integrating into the army.
Sectarian violence has hit Syria several times since the ouster of Mr. Assad, stoking fears among many minority groups that the country’s new leaders will marginalize or even target them.
Last month, a wave of sectarian killings spread across Syria’s coastal region, home of the country’s Alawites, the minority group that the Assad family belongs to.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
5) Lost in the ‘Death Realm’ of El Salvador’s Prisons
President Trump’s decision to send migrants to a Salvadoran prison has set off a national debate in the U.S. In El Salvador, the phenomenon of men disappearing into prisons is all too familiar.
By Annie Correal, Photographs by Daniele Volpe, May 1, 2025
Annie Correal and Daniele Volpe traveled through El Salvador to report on its prisons.
José Alfredo Vega’s parents said they were able to identify his body only because of a childhood scar. Otherwise, the corpse was swollen beyond recognition.
“He was OK when he left,” said his father, Miguel Ángel Vega, recalling the night nearly three years ago when police officers barged into the family’s home and took away his son. “He was healthy.”
Now, at 29, José Alfredo was dead in a morgue.
President Trump’s decision to send to El Salvador hundreds of people he says are gang members has ignited outrage and approval in the United States. But most Salvadorans have barely registered their arrival and their absorption into the country’s opaque penal system.
Here in El Salvador, where tens of thousands of men have been swept up in mass arrests in recent years, the disappearance of men into prisons not to be heard from again is disturbingly familiar.
Since 2022, when President Nayib Bukele’s government imposed a state of emergency to quell rampant gang violence, around 80,000 people have been incarcerated, more than tripling El Salvador’s inmate population. Thousands of innocent people have been locked up with no legal recourse and no communication with their families, according to their relatives, former prisoners and rights groups.
Hundreds of deaths have been documented inside El Salvador’s prisons, with families also reporting torture and maiming. Still, Mr. Bukele and his security strategy remain incredibly popular. Polls consistently show that more than 80 percent of Salvadorans approve of the young leader, saying under his administration they regained a precious luxury: the ability to safely walk down their streets.
“Bukele is doing everything right, we are all delighted,” said Daniel Francisco de León, a San Salvador resident. “It’s a whole different mood here. They used to just rob, rob, rob.”
Families of the imprisoned say that only they know what lies behind Mr. Bukele’s security strategy and its seeming success.
“I would not tell a single country to do what they did here,” said Mr. Vega, who identified his son’s body this month.
When Mr. Vega responded to the call from the morgue — it was the first he’d heard of his son since his arrest in May 2022 — the bodies of four other prisoners lay nearby. His son, he was told, had died of sepsis.
The Salvadoran human rights group Cristosal has documented 378 prison deaths since 2022, though Cristosal’s director, Noah Bullock, says the true number is likely much higher. The deaths, Mr. Bullock said, are the result of an “intentional denial of access to basic necessities like food, water, health care, hygiene,” in some cases combined with physical abuse.
Andrés Guzmán Caballero, the government’s human rights commissioner, rejected claims that prisoners were dying from intentional neglect or abuse, or at a higher rate than the civilian population, including from the effects of malnutrition.
“That’s completely false,” he said in an interview.
Mr. Guzmán Caballero could not provide an exact number of prisoner deaths but said that there is “very low” mortality in the country’s two dozen penitentiaries.
American lawyers for the migrants sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration and several members of the U.S. Congress have pressed officials for information on the men. The lawyers and family members say they have not heard from them since they were expelled in mid-March.
The American and Salvadoran governments have refused to offer updates on their health or the conditions under which they are being held, other than to report that the most high profile of the men, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, is in good health.
In the country’s capital, San Salvador, street lamps adorned with the Salvadoran flag light up as the sun sets. People can now stay outdoors at night.
“I like to say that we actually liberated millions,” Mr. Bukele told Mr. Trump last month.
Many Salvadorans say they agree. They can now go out when they please, play soccer, walk dogs. They are no longer shaken down by teenage gang members, asked to turn over food or property, or their daughters. Emergency rooms that once overflowed with gang victims are calm.
“You were like a little stray animal: there one day and gone the next,” said Teresa Lemus, a street vendor. “Now we’re 100 percent safe. I can carry my cash in my bag.”
Ms. Lemus’s brother was among those imprisoned for more than a year amid the crackdown despite his disability, a spinal condition that left him reliant on leg braces.
“Sooner or later, he’ll be proved innocent,” she recalled telling people.
She was right. But the letter exonerating her brother came too late, after he died this year in a prison called El Penalito, at 48. When she saw him in the morgue, he was emaciated. The explanation for his death, she said, was vague — depression, anemia.
Still, Ms. Lemus does not blame Mr. Bukele.
“I’m very clear that the president hasn’t done me wrong in any way,” she said. “Just as he has hurt us in some ways, he has helped us in others.”
Her brother, she is sure, would have said the same.
Such complexity can be found all over El Salvador, with people praising Mr. Bukele’s drastic measures even as they disclose their personal toll.
Adonay García dropped out at age 12 because of warring gangs at his school, he said. Now 19, he can safely ride a rented bike downtown. Yet at the peak of the mass arrests, he said, he was detained for a month, interrogated and struck by guards.
“I thought, ‘I am never going to see my family again,’” he said.
Mr. García’s older brother was arrested not long after, and is still imprisoned.
While polls show Mr. Bukele remains popular, some say the high numbers are a sign that people do not feel they can voice what is in fact growing public concern over the state of emergency — known here as “El Regimen.”
“You have a population that says, ‘Sure, we support the president, but I would be afraid to tell you if I didn’t,’” said Mr. Bullock, from the Cristosal human rights group.
Betty, a San Salvador resident who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of reprisal, concurred. “The regimen was an excellent move, but there are a lot of people who have been taken away unjustly and have died in there.”
She went on: “People are finally waking up and seeing things for what they really are. That little man is trying to play God.”
Those who have spoken out include the parents of the disappeared, who march through the capital carrying posters with their children’s photos. Among them are Mr. Vega and his wife, Marta González, who just buried their youngest son. They have another son still in prison.
Nearly two decades ago, as the threat of gangs grew, they moved to a remote coastal village to keep their sons safe, Mr. Vega said. He worked at a shrimp cooperative, fished and did odd jobs. His sons eventually joined him.
On weekends, he said, they played soccer with a rural police force sent by the government to keep the gangs away.
Then a new president took power. And new police officers.
José Alberto was arrested, and the following morning as he was hauling in shrimp, his brother, Vidal Adalberto, was also taken into custody.
The police carried a list of names, their parents said, but as far as they know, neither son was ever charged or found to have gang connections.
“We’ve spent our lives fleeing so our sons wouldn’t get caught up in that,” Mr. Vega said. “We came here to bring them up right, only for the government to kill them.”
Since the young men’s arrests, their family has sold everything to afford the packages of food and supplies that are the only things people are permitted to deliver to prisoners.
Of those imprisoned under the state of emergency, only 8,000 people have been released, according to the government.
One former prisoner, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared rearrest, said he would never forget his year in two prisons, from 2022 to 2023.
“It’s a death realm,” he said. “The realm of the devil.”
His first stop was Izalco, a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of the capital.
On arrival, the men were stripped to their underwear and forced to walk between rows of guards who hit them with clubs, he said. They were crammed three to a bunk, forced to split meager rations like watery beans or instant pasta. The man said he lost 30 pounds in a month.
Ultimately, he said, he was placed with a group of “civilians without tattoos,” people considered “collaborators, in theory.”
Then he was sent to a less restrictive prison facility north of San Salvador, known as Mariona. There, detainees could leave their cells, kick a ball and play dominoes.
But beyond routine checks, including weigh-ins, there was no medical care, the man said. Many prisoners suffered from “a kind of diarrhea I didn’t know was possible,” he said.
Prisoners’ families sent packages, but guards removed things like oatmeal, cornflakes and cookies, the former inmate said, setting aside calorie-rich food for starving inmates.
Mr. Guzmán, the human rights commissioner, denied this.
“Everyone receives food and everyone is fine,” he said. “When it comes to malnutrition, there is no problem. It’s not a five-star hotel but everybody eats two, three times a day and they eat well.”
On a recent morning, outside a prison in the inland city of Santa Ana, a man sitting in the back of a van held up his cuffed hands as the vehicle idled. He gestured toward his mouth, then held up his fingers to indicate how many days it had been since he had eaten: four.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
6) Columbia Student Who Was Arrested at Citizenship Interview Is Freed
Mohsen Mahdawi had been an organizer of pro-Palestinian protests at the university. The Trump administration is trying to deport him for it.
By Ana Ley, April 30, 2025
Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University, was freed from federal custody on Wednesday, more than two weeks after immigration officials detained him and sought to rescind his green card as part of a widening crackdown against student protesters.
In releasing Mr. Mahdawi on bail, Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford of Federal District Court in Vermont drew parallels between the current political climate and McCarthyism.
“This is not the first time that the nation has seen chilling action by the government intended to shut down debate,” Judge Crawford said.
The release of Mr. Mahdawi, a permanent legal resident, is a defeat for the Trump administration, though it does not mean the end of the federal government’s action against him. His immigration case will continue, but he will be able to fight it from outside a detention facility.
Mr. Mahdawi struck a defiant tone after his release.
“I am saying it clear and loud, to President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” he said.
The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has argued that protesters like Mr. Mahdawi have spread antisemitism, while demonstrators say criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza is not antisemitic.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, denounced Judge Crawford’s decision in a post on social media.
“When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country,” Ms. McLaughlin said, without offering any evidence to support her accusations.
Mr. Mahdawi, 34, had been in custody since April 14, when immigration officials detained him at an appointment in Vermont, where he is a resident, that he thought was a step toward becoming a U.S. citizen.
In granting the release of Mr. Mahdawi, Judge Crawford cited his extensive ties to his community and said he did not pose a danger to the public. He noted that the court had received more than 90 submissions from community members, academic experts and professors who know Mr. Mahdawi, “many of them Jewish,” attesting to his character and consistently describing him as “peaceful.”
The judge also spoke of the “extraordinary circumstances” of Mr. Mahdawi’s detention and the present moment in history.
Michael Drescher, the acting U.S. attorney in Vermont, who argued on behalf of the Trump administration, said that immigration officials had solid legal reason to detain Mr. Mahdawi as they considered his deportation case.
Mr. Drescher noted that Mr. Mahdawi is not a U.S. citizen and has access to resources that would enable him to leave the country. “His detention is not illegal,” Mr. Drescher said.
Judge Crawford’s Burlington courtroom was packed on Wednesday with supporters of Mr. Mahdawi, who remained hushed as the judge issued his order. A few began clapping as Mr. Mahdawi was allowed to collect his belongings and leave immediately.
Dressed in a plaid suit and wearing gold wire-rimmed glasses, Mr. Mahdawi draped a kaffiyeh around his shoulders. As he walked out of the courthouse to a jubilant reception, he raised his hands in the peace sign.
“They arrested me. What’s the reason? Because I raised my voice, and I said no to war, yes to peace,” Mr. Mahdawi said. “Because I said, ‘Enough is enough. Killing more than 50,000 Palestinians is more than enough.’”
A green card holder for the past 10 years, Mr. Mahdawi was not accused of a crime. Rather, Mr. Rubio wrote in a memo justifying his arrest that his activism “could undermine the Middle East peace process by reinforcing antisemitic sentiment.”
Mr. Rubio has said that immigration authorities have the right to eject even legal residents from the country for protest activities that the government says harm America’s foreign policy interests.
Mr. Mahdawi’s lawyers had requested a temporary restraining order to prevent federal officials from transferring him to a more conservative jurisdiction.
That tactic was used in the detention and attempted deportation of at least four other college demonstrators, including Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia graduate who has been in a Louisiana detention facility since last month.
Another federal judge in Vermont, William K. Sessions III, swiftly granted that request, ordering that Mr. Mahdawi, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, not be removed from the United States or transferred out of Vermont until he ordered otherwise.
Judge Crawford then extended the decision to keep Mr. Mahdawi in the state until Wednesday’s ruling.
Shortly after Mr. Mahdawi’s release, his lawyers said that he would be allowed to finish his academic program at Columbia.
“Today’s victory cannot be overstated. It is a victory for Mohsen who gets to walk free today out of this court,” said one of the lawyers, Shezza Abboushi Dallal.
“And it is also a victory for everyone else in this country invested in the very ability to dissent, who want to be able to speak out for the causes that they feel a moral imperative to lend their voices to and want to do that without fear that they will be abducted by masked men.”
Even though Mr. Mahdawi is still at risk of deportation, his release from detention will give him a much stronger chance to challenge the government’s allegations, said Joshua Bardavid, an immigration lawyer in New York.
“It is so much more difficult to fight a case from detention, first and foremost, because the government gets to choose the venue,” Mr. Bardavid said. “Generally speaking, a case is heard where you are detained, and certain courts are known for being much more government-friendly than other locations.”
Because Mr. Mahdawi was released in Vermont, his case is likely to be heard in the Northeast, Mr. Bardavid said.
The Trump administration had sought to deport Mr. Mahdawi using the same legal provision that it used to detain Mr. Khalil in Manhattan before transferring him to Louisiana.
The government has contended that his presence is a threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States. Federal officials have argued that pro-Palestinian demonstrators have enabled the spread of antisemitism, but they have not provided evidence of that.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration regards studying in the United States as “a great privilege, not a right,” and that any noncitizen who harms national security or commits a crime “should be promptly deported.”
In April, an immigration judge in Louisiana found that federal officials could deport Mr. Khalil, and the Department of Homeland Security later denied him permission to attend the birth of his first child, who was delivered at a New York hospital.
In recent weeks, Mr. Mahdawi had been in hiding, worried about being arrested by immigration police after Mr. Khalil was detained at campus housing at Columbia. He asked the university for help but did not receive it. An extreme pro-Israel group, Betar, had warned on social media that he was next to be detained.
But he was determined to appear for an interview he had been told was related to his naturalization, even though he feared it was a trap. He alerted Vermont’s senators and representative in case things went wrong, and before the appointment, he studied the Constitution, preparing for a naturalization test.
Instead, immigration officers, some with their faces covered, placed Mr. Mahdawi in handcuffs and arrested him, according to a statement released by Vermont’s congressional delegation, Senators Peter Welch and Representative Becca Balint, both Democrats, and Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent.
On Wednesday, the lawmakers expressed relief that Mr. Mahdawi had been freed from detention and said that his constitutional right to due process had prevailed. They said that he had done nothing wrong and had been unfairly targeted by the federal government.
“The Trump administration’s actions in this case — and in so many other cases of wrongfully detained, deported, and disappeared people — are shameful and immoral,” they said in a statement. On Columbia’s campus, the news of Mr. Mahdawi’s release from federal custody was hailed as an important first step.
Gabriella Ramirez, a second-year graduate student and member of the University Senate who knows Mr. Mahdawi, said she was “very encouraged to see the justice system at work with Mohsen’s release from unlawful detention.”
She added: “I remain hopeful that we will see a similar outcome for my classmate Mahmoud Khalil.”
Anvee Bhutani and Carolyn Shapiro contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
7) In Texas Borderland, Trump’s Immigration Push Suffers Its Worst Legal Defeat Yet
Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. is a Trump nominee with conservative credentials. But he found White House claims about a Venezuelan gang “invasion” went too far.
By Mattathias Schwartz, May 2, 2025
Mattathias Schwartz reported from the federal courthouse in Brownsville, Texas.
The Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, where Venezuelans at the center of a Supreme Court ruling are being held. Credit...Paul Ratje/Reuters
Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a bespectacled, soft-spoken 56-year-old nominated by President Trump, turned his high-backed leather chair toward a government lawyer at the federal courthouse in Brownsville, Texas, and asked a question. Can the president define what counts as an invasion, then declare that an invasion is happening, and then use a 1798 war powers law to expel the so-called invaders?
“Yes,” answered Michael Velchik, a Justice Department lawyer.
Judge Rodriguez followed up: Wouldn’t that make Mr. Trump’s powers under the wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, “effectively limitless?”
The question hinted at a groundbreaking ruling that Judge Rodriguez issued on Thursday when he found that Mr. Trump was wrong to claim that the activities of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang in the United States, amounted to an “invasion” that justified invoking the wartime law.
The decision was the most sweeping ruling issued so far by a federal judge blocking the most aggressive prong of Mr. Trump’s effort, one that was already used to deport nearly 140 Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador on March 15. It comes after a Supreme Court decision in early April that Venezuelan detainees facing potential deportation under the Alien Enemies Act could file lawsuits in the district courts where they were being held.
The result of the court’s order has been that challenges to a key piece of Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, which began in Washington, are spreading around the country, filling the dockets of federal judges and drawing tough and skeptical questioning — even from jurists with impeccable conservative credentials.
Judge Rodriguez’s order came after five other judges hearing challenges of detainees related to the Alien Enemies Act issued temporary orders that blocked deportations for some or all of those held in their districts. In Colorado, a judge found that there cannot be an “invasion” without “military and wartime action” and that the administration had “improperly” relied on the words as a legal basis for deportations.
Texas, with its extensive network of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, is beginning to play an outsize role in the litigation. Judge Rodriguez is one of three Texas judges who have so far heard challenges from groups of Venezuelans. When one of his colleagues, Judge James Wesley Hendrix in the Northern District of Texas, declined to stop the imminent deportation of another group of Venezuelans held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, the Supreme Court stepped in and issued an emergency order blocking it.
In another case, Judge David Briones of the Western District of Texas ordered the immediate release of a Venezuelan couple, rejecting the government’s claims that they were members of Tren de Aragua.
The cases in Texas are also notable because federal courts there are reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the most aggressively conservative appellate court, which has issued a number of rulings supporting hard-line immigration policies.
The possibility of an appeal to the Fifth Circuit has driven the perception that Texas courtrooms might offer Mr. Trump the best chance to win rulings that would allow his administration’s plan to scale up mass deportations to move forward.
That makes the skepticism he is facing there especially notable, said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. “The administration might have been overconfident in fighting so hard to have these cases heard in Texas,” he said. “There are some legal questions on which reasonable judges from across the ideological spectrum will disagree. But whether we are under invasion from — or otherwise at war with — Tren de Aragua just isn’t one of them.”
A spokesman for the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The origins of the case before Judge Rodriguez date to March 14 at the El Valle Detention Center, 50 miles north of Brownsville. From there, two buses carrying more than 200 men set off for the airport at Harlingen, and from there to El Salvador, despite an order from another judge in Washington, James E. Boasberg, requiring them to return.
Mr. Trump has trained his ire on Judge Boasberg, painting him as a radical liberal. The president might have hoped for a friendlier reception in front of Judge Rodriguez, where three of the men tried suing after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Judge Rodriguez sits less than a mile from the Mexican border. Each weekday, one floor down from his courtroom, U.S. marshals bring forward a parade of border-crossers, some in orange prison smocks, some still in the street clothes they were arrested in hours before. On Thursday, they stood five and six at a time before a magistrate judge who took sips from a Whataburger cup as some men stood for their arraignments and others waived their right to a jury trial and pleaded guilty.
Still, Judge Rodriguez has not immediately embraced the drastic measures the administration is taking to reboot the immigration system, a sign that Mr. Trump’s claims about the extent of his own power may be too bold for some of his judicial nominees.
Two weeks before the hearing, Judge Rodriguez had issued a temporary restraining order that barred the government from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport the three plaintiffs, or any other El Valle detainee.
The break with Mr. Trump was surprising, said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer in Brownsville who often appears before the judge. Of Brownsville’s two federal judges, Ms. Goodwin said Judge Rodriguez was known as “the more conservative, more strict judge.”
Judge Rodriguez, who declined to comment for this article, was the first Latino chosen by Mr. Trump for the federal bench. During his confirmation hearing in 2017, the judge talked about being raised by a single mother and living near the poverty line. He went to Yale, the first in his family to attend a four-year college, then the University of Texas Law School, and went on to make partner at Baker Botts, a powerful Houston firm. For eight years, he worked overseas for the International Justice Mission, an evangelical Christian group that fights human trafficking. “All these experiences,” he told the Senate, “enable me to empathize with the vulnerable, the poor and the disadvantaged.”
At the immigration hearing, Judge Rodriguez took a careful, inquisitive approach as he scrutinized the claims about the word “invasion,” a crucial term from both the statute and Mr. Trump’s proclamation on March 14 invoking the war powers law. The judge said he was searching for “the plain, ordinary meaning” of the word as it was understood in 1798.
Mr. Velchik said “invasion” and “predatory incursion” could be applied to nonstate actors like “Indian tribes” and “Barbary pirates.” But when Judge Rodriguez asked him to back it up with “sources from that time,” Mr. Velchik came up empty. The attempt to discern the law’s original meaning, a staple of conservative jurisprudence that has been used to protect the rights of gun owners and restrict access to abortion, now seemed to be working against the administration’s agenda.
Elsewhere in Brownsville, there were broader questions about whether Mr. Trump’s approach to immigration was consistent with local tradition. In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Abby’s Bakery, a pastry shop 16 miles from Brownsville. They discovered workers who were living on the owners’ property. Two were undocumented, according to a complaint filed in court; six had visas to visit the United States but not to work. The two owners were charged with harboring aliens, a crime with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. They have pleaded not guilty, and their trial, also before Judge Rodriguez, is scheduled for July.
Jaime M. Diez, the lawyer representing the bakery owners, said the case had made ranchers reluctant to board seasonal migrants who work as ranch hands, a practice in the region for generations. “Everyone is scared,” he said. “They’ve been arresting people left and right.”
Toward the end of the hearing, Judge Rodriguez examined whether a government plan to give detainees as little as 12 hours to challenge their detentions complied with an order from the Supreme Court that they be allowed “reasonable time” to sue. He asked how detainees could challenge it. If they were somehow able to file quickly, they would not have suffered any injury, he said. But if they were not able to file, then the government could fly them off to El Salvador, beyond the reach of U.S. courts.
“From my perspective, there’s a Catch-22,” the judge said.
Ms. Goodwin, the immigration lawyer, said 12 hours was insufficient, given the demands on lawyers’ time since Mr. Trump took office. “My clients are petrified,” she said. “‘Are they going to come to my house? Are they going to come to the schools? Can I go to the doctor? You’re the lawyer. Can’t you do something?’ I spend so much time just trying to calm fears.”
Muneer Ahmad, a professor at Yale Law School who represents immigrants as part of the school’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, called Judge Rodriguez’s ruling “well-reasoned” and “significant.”
“For a Trump-appointed judge to so unambiguously rule that the invocation of the statute was unlawful,” he said, “I hope will hasten the end of this legal charade.”
Alan Feuer contributed reporting, and Kitty Bennett contributed research.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
8) Israel Launches Airstrikes Near Syrian Presidential Palace
It was the second time in days that Israel intervened militarily in Syria amid a wave of sectarian violence there.
By Ephrat Livni and Michael D. Shear, May 2, 2025
Pro-government protesters gathered in Sahnaya, Syria, on Friday after Israel carried out airstrikes. Credit...Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times
Israeli fighter jets struck near the Syrian presidential palace on Friday in what Israeli leaders said was a warning to the government to protect the Druse minority after a new wave of sectarian violence.
More than 100 people were killed this week in clashes involving a number of parties, including Sunni Muslim extremists not fully under the government’s control, forces from the new government and fighters from the country’s Druse minority.
The Israeli strike was the latest in a series of attacks on Syria over the past months aimed at preventing weapons and territory near Israel’s borders from falling into the hands of hostile forces. But it was also a reminder that the new Syrian government has little recourse beyond condemning such attacks as it struggles to gain control over a fractured country and unify it following almost 14 years of civil war.
Both Israel and Syria have large Druse communities. And Israel has offered before to protect the Syrian Druse should they come under attack during the tumultuous transition of power in the country after Islamist rebels overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in December.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and incursions on Syrian territory, destroying weapons and military outposts. It made clear again on Friday that it was determined to prevent southern Syria, parts of which are controlled by the Druse, from falling under the sway of more extreme groups that could threaten Israel.
Israel said it attacked near the presidential palace in the capital, Damascus. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, called it “a clear warning” to the new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Shara. He said when Mr. al-Shara “wakes up and sees the results of Israeli Air Force jets’ strike, he will understand well that Israel is determined to prevent any harm to the Druse in Syria.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has in the past demanded a total demilitarization of southern Syria and said Israel won’t allow the forces of the new Syrian military to enter territory south of Damascus.
Analysts said Israel’s determination to prevent hostile groups inside Syria from establishing a military presence near its borders stemmed partly from its experience with Hezbollah in Lebanon. For decades, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, established strongholds in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel that enabled it to threaten Israeli communities across the frontier — tensions that led to multiple conflicts.
The strike on Friday was the second time this week that Israel intervened militarily inside Syria on behalf of the Druse amid a new bout of sectarian violence in the country. During the unrest, Sunni extremists attacked areas with large Druse populations on the outskirts of Damascus.
Before he became president, Mr. al-Shara led the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once affiliated with Al Qaeda, and headed a coalition of rebel forces that toppled Mr. al-Assad. The coalition included his group and other Islamist rebel factions with more extreme ideologies.
Many of those groups have not been brought under the control of new national military, and Syria’s authorities have shown little capacity to rein them in.
The Syrian president’s office condemned the Israeli attack near the presidential palace as a “dangerous escalation” aimed at undermining the country’s stability. It was one of the strongest statements yet by Syria’s new leaders against Israel.
But Mr. al-Shara cannot afford a further escalation with Israel. His government’s control still does not extend to large parts of the country. He is struggling to build a new military, calm waves of sectarian violence and unify a country ripped apart by years of civil conflict.
The Druse are one of Syria’s many minorities, and their militias have so far resisted integration into the national military.
There are more than one million Druse across the Middle East, mostly in Syria and Lebanon, and some in Jordan and Israel. The Druse practice a secretive offshoot of Islam that contains elements of Christianity, Hinduism, Gnosticism and other philosophies.
The monotheistic sect recognizes the prophets of the Abrahamic faiths, including Jesus, John the Baptist, Muhammad and Moses, and reveres Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates.
Wherever they may be, the Druse generally tend to participate in national civic and political life and often serve in the local military while maintaining a distinct culture and religious practice.
Some Syrian Druse have ties to the Druse community in Israel, and Israel has not only offered to protect the Druse in Syria, but also tried to cultivate relations with the community. But many Syrian Druse have rejected what they consider potentially destructive foreign meddling.
The Druse community in Israel, however, is pressing for Israel to intervene. Friday’s strike in Damascus came after Druse protesters in Israel blocked highways on Thursday amid mounting demands from members of the community there that Israel act forcefully in Syria.
The Israeli military also said on Thursday that its forces were deployed in the southern Syrian region and “prepared to prevent hostile forces from entering the region and Druse villages.”
Mr. Katz, the defense minister, said on Thursday that Israel would “respond with great severity” if attacks on the Druse did not stop, saying the Syrian leadership bore responsibility for preventing them.
“We are committed to defending the Druse,” he added.
On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes on Syria and threatened to strike government forces there if clashes persisted between Sunni extremist militants loosely affiliated with the government and Druse militia members. The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a group of “operatives” whom Israel accused of having “attacked Druse civilians” in the spreading violence around the outskirts of Damascus.
The most recent outbreak of sectarian unrest in Syria began on Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria’s Interior Ministry said he was not involved.
Armed Sunni extremists then began attacking areas with large Druse populations, including the city of Jaramana near Damascus. Druse militias responded in force, and the government sent security personnel to quell the unrest.
On Wednesday, the clashes spread to another town on the southern outskirts of Damascus, and into the Druse-controlled Sweida region of southern Syria, with fighting continuing until Thursday morning.
Five prominent Druse leaders released a statement Thursday night indicating a willingness to join forces with the government. They said government forces were being deployed to secure the road from Sweida to the capital.
The government agreed to send reinforcements to protect Jaramana, Druse leaders said.
The State Department on Thursday called on Syria’s government to stop the sectarian violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“The recent violence and inflammatory rhetoric targeting members of the Druse community in Syria is reprehensible and unacceptable,” said a spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce. “Sectarianism will only sink Syria and the region into chaos and more violence.”
Euan Ward and Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
9) Explosions Cripple Ship Carrying Aid to Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea
A human rights group operating the ship blamed a drone attack for the explosions, which caused a fire on the vessel. The crew was safe and remained on board.
By John Yoon, May 2, 2025
A tug vessel putting out a fire on a ship bound for Gaza off the coast of Malta on Friday, in a handout picture provided by the Maltese government. Government of Malta, via Reuters
A ship carrying 16 people and humanitarian aid to Gaza was rocked by explosions early Friday off the coast of Malta, setting the vessel on fire and putting it at risk of sinking, according to the human rights group operating the ship.
The ship and its crew were safe after a tugboat helped extinguish the blaze following a mayday call, the government of Malta said in a statement. It did not say what had caused the fire, adding that the authorities were monitoring the ship, which was in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ship, called Conscience and operated by a group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Tunisia earlier this week carrying human rights activists and aid. The group has sought to challenge Israel and Egypt’s blockade of Gaza by trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the territory by sea.
Before going to Gaza, the ship was scheduled to stop in Malta and pick up about 40 more people, including the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, said Yasemin Acar, a spokeswoman for the group.
The source of the explosion has not been determined, and it was not known whether the ship had been deliberately targeted.
In a statement, the group suggested an Israeli drone strike was responsible for the explosion, but it did not provide definitive evidence.
Two experts consulted by The Times were unable to conclusively determine if a drone had struck the ship based on a review of images of damage to the vessel.
Crew members on the ship near Malta said they believed they had been hit by a drone attack, the coalition said. At around 12:20 a.m. local time, armed drones fired at the front of the ship, the coalition said in a statement.
That set off a fire, caused a substantial breach in the hull and broke the generator on board, leaving the crew without power. Parts of the group’s account could not be independently confirmed.
Video provided by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition appears to show a fire on the ship’s deck as an alarm rings out. Security footage recorded after the reported time of the fire shows people on the ship assessing the damage as a man holds a fire extinguisher.
The authorities in Malta said they received a mayday call from a passenger vessel of the same name at around 12:20 a.m., reporting a fire on the bow. No casualties were reported, the Maltese government said. It was unclear on Friday morning whether the damaged ship would be allowed to dock in Malta.
A nearby tug vessel with firefighting equipment helped to bring the fire under control by 1:30 a.m., according to Malta’s statement. Less than an hour later, the crew were confirmed to be safe.
Ann Wright, another spokeswoman for the group, said that the crew had stayed aboard instead of evacuating to keep watch over the disabled ship.
The group has asked the crew to pick up the debris from the explosions so that it could undergo forensic examination, which would help determine whether a weapon had been used, Ms. Wright said.
It was not clear who was responsible for the explosions on the flotilla near Malta on Friday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israeli military has blocked past attempts by pro-Palestinian activists to bring aid to Gaza by sea, including by force. In 2010, nine passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, a flotilla carrying aid from Turkey to Gaza, were killed in an Israeli commando raid, sparking international outrage and a deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has more than a dozen members, including I.H.H., a Turkish relief group, the group’s website said. At least four of the nine people killed in 2010 were members of I.H.H., according to the findings of an Israeli investigation into the event. I.H.H. has been a virulent critic of the blockade on Gaza and the devastation caused by Israel’s military campaign in the territory.
Since early March after a limited cease-fire ended, Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, leaving many people in Gaza struggling to access food. Israeli officials have said the restrictions seek to compel Hamas to release hostages held by the militant group, but members of the humanitarian community have said the blockade is imperiling innocent civilians.
There were 12 crew members and four civilian passengers on board the ship, according to the Maltese government and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition called on the international community to condemn the attack.
“Attacking international human rights activists in international waters is a war crime,” Ms. Acar said.
Jiawei Wang, Sanjana Varghese, and Adam Rasgon contributed reporting to this article.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
10) Visual Analysis Shows U.S. Likely Bombed Yemen Migrant Detention Center
Videos and photos reveal remnants of at least three U.S.-made GBU-39 bombs at the site of an April 28 attack. The strike killed 68 African migrants, according to the Houthis, a militant group that controls northern Yemen.
By Arijeta Lajka, Aric Toler, Caroline Kim and Aaron Byrd, May 3, 2025
Transcript of NYT Video:
This detention center in Yemen holding African migrants was hit by an airstrike on April 28. It’s located in Saada in the country’s north. At least 68 of the migrants were killed, according to the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militant group that controls northern Yemen. The Times could not independently verify the building was a migrant center, or that the dead and injured were all migrants. The Houthis said it was an American strike. The U.S. said it was aware of the strike and civilian casualties, but hasn’t confirmed or denied involvement in the attack. The Times analyzed satellite imagery, photos and videos of the strikes’ aftermath and spoke to weapons experts. We found that at least three U.S.-made GBU-39 bombs were used in the attack, suggesting that the U.S. likely carried out the bombing. The munitions destroyed the 4,800-square-foot building, where Houthi-run media said 115 migrants were held. The Trump administration has carried out an intense bombing campaign against the Houthis since mid-March. The stated aim is to pressure the Houthis to halt their attacks on Israel and international shipping vessels in the Red Sea, where they’ve caused major trade disruptions. Independent monitors say civilian casualties are increasing, and U.S. officials are providing few details about the strikes or their targets. While Israel has GBU-39s, there is no indication they were bombing Yemen at the time. The situation within Yemen is also opaque. The Houthis are skilled at propaganda and have restricted independent journalists and the public from sharing videos and photos online. From the April 28 strike in Saada, the Houthis released footage that showed bomb craters at the site, which weapons experts said were consistent with a GBU-39 explosion, and photos show debris from a weapon at the site. Among the debris is the guidance system in the tail of a GBU-39, a 250-pound bomb that is designed and manufactured in the United States. The Yemen Executive Mine Action Center, a demining organization, was at the scene, searching for munition remnants. The group is tied to the Houthi-led government and has been previously funded by the United Nations. They shared other GBU-39 parts that were laid out near the wrecked detention center. In this photo, two parts that hold the bomb’s fuze are visible, indicating that at least two GBU-39s exploded at the site. In one of the craters, they found a circular object embedded underground, which is the base of a fuze well with a bolt. Weapons experts told The Times the fuze well is part of a GBU-39 bomb. Experts said the scale of the destruction also shows that multiple munitions were used. This wasn’t the first time the detention center in Saada had been hit in recent years. Scores of people were killed in January 2022 when a Saudi-led military coalition supported by the U.S. launched an airstrike on another building at the center, about 100 yards away from the building struck on April 28. In a statement to The Times, a defense official said, “U.S. Central Command is aware of the claims of civilian casualties related to the U.S. strikes in Yemen, and we take those claims very seriously. We are currently conducting our battle damage assessment and inquiry into those claims.” They did not answer specific questions on whether they struck the detention facility, and if so, what their target was.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
