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For Immediate Release
October, 26 2018, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
President Trump Must Abandon Plan to Close Southern Border to Central Americans Seeking Asylum
In response to reports that President Trump plans to take executive action blocking refugees and people seeking asylum from Central America from entering the United States to request protection, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:
"The Trump administration is defying international law and manufacturing a crisis at the border by proposing policies that would cause catastrophic and irreparable harm to thousands of families who had no choice but to leave home in order to keep their children safe from harm."
WASHINGTON
In response to reports that President Trump plans to take executive action blocking refugees and people seeking asylum from Central America from entering the United States to request protection, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:
"The Trump administration is defying international law and manufacturing a crisis at the border by proposing policies that would cause catastrophic and irreparable harm to thousands of families who had no choice but to leave home in order to keep their children safe from harm."
"President Trump has shown callous disregard for the plight of those making this dangerous journey from Honduras and other Central American countries. His administration must stop waging a deliberate campaign of human rights violations against people seeking safety and immediately recognize that everyone has the right, under US and international law, to seek protection."
Amnesty International USA executive director Margaret Huang added:
"Banning people from seeking asylum would be a direct violation of national and international law and put lives in danger. It would be the culmination of years of hateful policies criminalizing families seeking protection and would throw desperate people back into harm's way."
"The people whose lives are endangered by this unspeakably cruel proposal are simply not national security threats. They are people just like you and me, except many have been forced to run for their lives from violence and persecution. All they are asking for is a chance to seek safety. They deserve our compassion, not our contempt."
Yesterday, an Amnesty International delegation toured a tent city that has hosted thousands of immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas, including asylum-seeking children. This week, Amnesty International also sent a delegation to observe the caravan of asylum seekers and refugees at the border of Mexico and Guatemala, and document both the response of the authorities in both countries.
"What we witnessed in the Tornillo tent city only highlights the vast tragedy that has already occurred in the United States," said Huang, who was part of the delegation. "U.S. authorities must act immediately to speed the release of over 1,100 children currently detained there for longer than is legally allowed. We must not continue to fail them by allowing these dangerous proposals to become policy."
These visits come a few weeks after the launch of the organization's new report revealing the dangerous human consequences of illegal border pushbacks by the Trump administration, and that the number of families separated at the border is much higher than previously disclosed.
Additionally, Amnesty International is mobilizing its millions of members and supporters around the world to take action, including by engaging online with public comments on proposed regulations that would allow children to be detained indefinitely rather than placing them with relatives or sponsors in the USA.
This press release can be found at: https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/president-trump-must-abandon-plan-to-close-southern-border-to-central-americans-seeking-asylum/
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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'We Have No More Food,' Says World Central Kitchen Amid Israeli Attacks and Deadly Starvation
"Our trucks—loaded with food and supplies—are waiting in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, ready to enter Gaza," said WCK founder José Andrés. "But they cannot move without permission."
May 08, 2025
After serving more than 130 million meals and distributing 26 million loaves of bread to Gazans over the past 18 months, even after repeated—and critics say deliberate—Israeli massacres of its staff, World Central Kitchen said Wednesday that it has no more food left to prepare as Israel continues to block lifesaving aid from entering the embattled enclave and more Palestinians starve to death.
"World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza," the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit said in a statement. "We have no more food to prepare."
"We have now reached the limits of what is possible."
"Since Israel closed border crossings in early March, WCK has been unable to replenish the stocks of food that we use to feed hundreds of thousands of Gazans daily," the group continued, referring to Israel's tightening of the 579-day "complete siege" imposed on the Palestinian territory after the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.
"In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination," WCK said. "We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread."
"By constantly adapting over the past weeks, we were cooking 133,000 meals daily at our two remaining WCK field kitchens and baking 80,000 loaves of bread each day," the charity added. "But we have now reached the limits of what is possible."
WCK kept serving Gaza even after Israeli airstrikes killed 11 of its staff members.
In April 2024, seven members of a WCK aid team were killed when their clearly marked convoy was bombed in Deir al-Balah, despite receiving travel clearance from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which knew exactly where the vehicles were. Renowned Spanish-American chef José Andrés, who founded WCK in 2010—and was a vocal defender of Israel—called the attack "deliberate" as some Israelis took to social media to mock the slain humanitarians.
Seven months later, Israel bombed a WCK vehicle traveling in Khan Younis, killing three of the group's staffers. A "double-tap" follow-up strike killed two bystanders who attempted to help the initial victims.
In March 2025, a WCK volunteer was killed by an Israeli airstrike near one of the charity's Gaza facilities.
The slain WCK staffers are among the more than 400 humanitarian workers killed by Israeli bombs or bullets in Gaza, where more than 52,600 Palestinians—most of them women and children—have been slaughteredd and over 118,700 others wounded since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Upward of 14,000 Gazans are also missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed buildings. Nearly all of Gaza's more than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, while starvation and sickness ravage the besieged strip.
Deadly malnutrition—which has claimed the lives of at least dozens of Gazans, mostly children—has increased markedly since Israel's March 2 lockdown. Local officials say that at least 57 Palestinians have died from malnutrition combined with lack of adequate medical care. One of the most recent victims was 4-month-old Jenan Saleh al-Skafi, who died of severe malnutrition in al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City on May 2.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 65,000 children in Gaza require urgent treatment for severe malnutrition.
Israel—which is facing an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice—stands accused of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Israeli leaders including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have endorsed bombing Gaza's food stores and other humanitarian aid. Ben-Gvir claimed Republican leaders in the United States, which provides Israel with diplomatic cover and tens of billions of dollars in armed aid, agree with his stance.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court, where he is wanted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and forced starvation, has backed his ministers' calls to starve Gaza.
Despite the growing starvation in Gaza, Israel is making it harder for foreign-based nongovernmental organizations to register and operate in Palestine by imposing what European lawmakers this week called "purposely vague" and "highly discretionary" new rules.
Although it is out of food, WCK said it is still able to distribute desperately needed potable water to Palestinians in Gaza.
"Our pots may be empty, our cooking fires snuffed out—but World Central Kitchen will keep serving," said Andrés. "Our trucks—loaded with food and supplies—are waiting in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, ready to enter Gaza. But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow."
WCK Gaza response director Wadhah Hubaishi asserted that "the borders need to open for World Central Kitchen to be able to feed people in need."
"If given full access to our infrastructure, partnerships, and incoming supplies," he added, "we are capable of providing hungry families in Gaza with 500,000 meals a day."
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Judge Boasberg Demands to Know If Trump Can Really Bring Abrego Garcia Home With a Phone Call
The judge questioned administration attorneys in a hearing on whether the White House has "constructive custody" of nearly 140 Venezuelan men it sent to El Salvador.
May 08, 2025
At a hearing Wednesday on the status of nearly 140 Venezuelan immigrants whom the Trump administration hastily expelled to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a federal judge told lawyers representing the detainees that there were "a lot of facts in their favor" regarding whether the White House has the authority to return the men to the United States.
During the hearing, Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., questioned U.S. Department of Justice lawyers to determine whether the U.S. has "constructive custody" of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—a Maryland man whom the administration has insisted it can't bring back to the country even though he was mistakenly sent to El Salvador—and other prisoners at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
If the White House does have constructive custody of the men, with El Salvador detaining them at the behest of the U.S. government, it would be possible to bring them back to the U.S. to receive due process—which DOJ lawyer Abishek Kambli reluctantly conceded they had not received before their expulsion.
Boasberg zeroed in on a comment President Donald Trump made in an ABC News interview last week about Abrego Garcia, when he told reporter Terry Moran that he "could" make a phone call to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to secure the Maryland father's return.
"You could pick it up and with all the power of the presidency, you could call up the president of El Salvador and say, 'Send him back,'" said Moran.
"And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that," Trump said.
On Wednesday Boasberg demanded to know if Trump's comments were accurate.
"Is the president not telling the truth, or could he secure the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia?" he asked.
"A country in which Trump can do whatever he wants to these people, say whatever he wants about what he did, but be protected from what he said in a case about what he did, is not the democratic country we have known or that we deserve."
Kambli replied that Trump was just speaking of "the influence that he has" but doubled down on the claim that the president's position of power doesn't equal legal control of constructive custody.
The White House has claimed it has no jurisdiction over the migrants even though they were sent to El Salvador under a $6 million deal Trump struck with Bukele.
Boasberg pointed to comments by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a visit to CECOT in which she suggested the U.S. is in control of who is sent to and remains at the prison.
"What about Secretary Noem saying CECOT is 'one of the tools in our tool kit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people,'" Boasberg asked Kambli, quoting Noem directly. "Is she wrong about that?"
Kambli attempted to deflect the suggestion that the U.S. is paying El Salvador directly to house migrants, saying that despite Noem's remarks, the administration has only paid "grants" to Bukele's government "for law enforcement and anti-crime purposes."
Boasberg also asked point-blank: "Is the United States paying the government of El Salvador to detain the migrants?"
Kambli did not reply directly, saying only that "there is no agreement or arrangement whereby the United States maintains any agency or control over these prisoners."
At another point the judge forced Kambli to admit that—contrary to repeated claims by Trump—the U.S. Supreme Court did not rule in his favor regarding his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, which the White House has used to expel people it accuses of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The Supreme Court lifted a block imposed by Boasberg in an earlier ruling on the Alien Enemies Act, but did not uphold Trump's invocation of the rarely-used law.
"I know your client believes the Supreme Court upheld the invocation of the AEA," Boasberg told Kambli. "You agree the Supreme Court never did that, correct?"
Law & Crimereported that "almost audible squirming ensued" as Kambli gave "several evasive answers" before Boasberg read the Supreme Court ruling verbatim.
"They did not analyze that precise issue," Kambli finally admitted.
Former congressman Conor Lamb suggested Boasberg's harsh questioning of the Trump administration is what is needed in the judicial system as the president continues his mass deportation operation and threatens due process rights.
"A country in which Trump can do whatever he wants to these people, say whatever he wants about what he did, but be protected from what he said in a case about what he did, is not the democratic country we have known or that we deserve," said Lamb. "Judges, we need you now."
Law & Crime reported that Boasberg "signaled an obvious inclination toward finding the U.S. does have constructive custody over the relevant Venezuelan nationals detained in CECOT" before ordering the Trump administration to provide sworn declarations regarding who has official custody.
The judge ordered the organizations representing the plaintiffs, the ACLU and Democracy Forward, to decide by Monday whether to request new documents and depositions from the government in the ongoing case.
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Trump Admin 'Reviewing' Visas After Arrest of Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia
"Repression breeds resistance—if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus," wrote Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
May 08, 2025
The New York Police Department arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protestors on Columbia University's campus on Wednesday evening—prompting U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to announce on X that the federal government is reviewing the visa status of those involved in the action.
On Wednesday afternoon, masked protestors, many wearing keffiyehs, gathered in Columbia's Butler Library. Video of the protest posted to social media shows demonstrators inside the library chanting "free Palestine."
Columbia has been under intense scrutiny from the Trump administration in recent months over the school's alleged failure to protect Jewish students. Critics say the administration is weaponizing antisemitism to attack Palestinian rights advocates. In March, the school faced backlash for making policy changes in line with demands from the Trump administration following the administration's decision to freeze $400 million in federal grants for the school.
Late Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X: "We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation."
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the professed aim of rooting out antisemitism at higher education institutions, and vowed to target foreign-born students who have engaged in "pro-jihadist" protests.
Acting university president Claire Shipman authorized the NYPD to enter campus around 7 pm on Wednesday in response to the rally in the library, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. The student paper reported that the NYPD arrested roughly 75 protesters and began leading them out of the library shortly thereafter.
The Daily Spectator also reported that there were altercations between the police and protestors after the arrests made in connection to the library protest.
Eighty people "who did not comply with verbal warnings by the NYPD to disperse" were taken into custody, according to the NYPD, per reporting from CNN. Seventy-eight of those taken into custody were arrested and two others were issued summonses, the NYPD told the outlet. CNN noted that it's not clear how many of those arrested came from the protest inside the building.
The group Columbia University Apartheid Divest wrote on Substack on Wednesday that the protestors renamed the library in honor of Palestinian activist Basil al-Araj.
The organizers said that the action at the library "shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy. Repression breeds resistance—if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus."
In May of last year, the NYPD swept an occupation of Hamilton Hall and arrested dozens of student protestors.
Wednesday's events come not long after arrests by federal immigration agents of multiple noncitizens who had been active in pro-Palestine actions on Columbia's campus.
In March, federal immigration agents arrested pro-Palestinian activist and former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently languishing in an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, Louisiana. Another Palestinian green-card holder active in Columbia's student protest movement, Mohsen Mahdawi, was also arrested by federal immigration agents, but last month was released on bail.
Both of those cases have generated significant national attention.
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