Trump administration brands US cities war zones

Octavio Jones with Sebastian Smith in Washington
Sun, October 5, 2025 
AFP


A masked US immigration agent patrols Chicago, where President Donald Trump is also planning to send National Guard troops 

(OCTAVIO JONES)(OCTAVIO JONES/AFP/AFP)


The Trump administration branded Chicago a "war zone" Sunday as a justification for deploying soldiers against the will of local Democratic officials, while a judge blocked the White House from sending troops to another Democratic-run city.

An escalating political crisis across the country pits President Donald Trump's anti-crime and migration crackdown against opposition Democrats who accuse him of an authoritarian power grab.

In the newest flashpoint, Trump late Saturday authorized deployment of 300 National Guard soldiers to Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States, despite the opposition of elected leaders including the mayor and state Governor JB Pritzker.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the move on Sunday, claiming on Fox News that Chicago is "a war zone."

But Pritzker, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" show, accused Republicans of aiming to sow "mayhem on the ground. They want to create the war zone, so that they can send in even more troops."

"They need to get the heck out," he said.

A CBS poll released Sunday found that 58 percent of Americans oppose deploying the National Guard to cities.

Trump -- who last Tuesday spoke of using the military for a "war from within" -- shows no sign of backing off his hardline campaign.

In an untrue claim Sunday, he said: "Portland is burning to the ground. It's insurrectionists all over the place."

Key ally Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, echoed the president's rhetoric Sunday, telling NBC's "Meet the Press" that National Guard troops deployed in the US capital Washington had responded to a "literal war zone" -- a characterization at odds with reality.

- No to 'martial law' -

Trump's campaign to use the military on home soil hit a roadblock late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, when a court ruled the deployment was unlawful.

Trump has repeatedly called Portland "war-ravaged," but US District Judge Karin Immergut issued a temporary block, saying "the president's determination was simply untethered to the facts."




"This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law," Immergut wrote in her ruling.

Although Portland has seen scattered attacks on federal officers and property, the Trump administration failed to demonstrate "that those episodes of violence were part of an organized attempt to overthrow the government as a whole" -- thereby justifying military force, she said.

One of Trump's key advisors, Stephen Miller, called the judge's order "legal insurrection."

On Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is at the forefront of Democratic moves against Trump, said the US president had deployed his state's National Guard to Oregon, and that he would be suing over the move.

"His deployment of the California National Guard to Oregon isn't about crime. It's about power. He is using our military as political pawns to build up his own ego," said Newsom.

- Chicago shooting -

The Trump crackdown is being spearheaded by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The department is being rapidly expanded both in personnel and duties.

ICE raids around the country -- primarily in cities run by Democrats -- have seen groups of masked, armed men in unmarked cars and armored vehicles target residential neighborhoods and businesses, sparking protests.

Days of tense scenes in Chicago turned violent Saturday when a federal officer shot a motorist that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said had been armed and rammed one of their patrol vehicles.

DHS officials have said that ICE officers also shot and killed 38-year-old immigrant Silverio Villegas Gonzalez during a traffic stop on September 12, accusing him of allegedly trying to flee the scene and dragging an ICE officer with the vehicle.

'Military-Style' ICE Raid In Chicago Shows Escalation in Tactics

Rebecca Schneid
Sun, October 5, 2025 
TIME

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel, and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino stand together amidst a tense protest outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, on September 27, 2025. Credit - Jacek Boczarski—Anadolu via Getty Images

At around 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, armed federal agents rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of a five-storey residential apartment in the South Shore of Chicago. The agents worked their way through the building, kicking down doors and throwing flash bang grenades, rounding up adults and screaming children alike, detaining them in zip-ties and arresting dozens, according to witnesses and local reporting.

The military-style raid was part of a widening immigration crackdown by the Trump Administration in the country’s third-largest city, dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has brought a dramatic increase in federal raids and arrests.

It has also drawn outrage throughout Chicago and the state of Illinois, with rights groups and lawmakers claiming it represents a dramatic escalation in tactics used by federal authorities in the pursuit of Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

Read more: White House Anti-Terror Order Targets ‘Anti-Capitalist’ and ‘Anti-American’ Views. Here’s What To Know

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker accused the federal agents of separating children from their parents, zip-tying their hands, and detaining them in “dark vans” for hours. Videos of the raid show flashbang grenades erupting on the street, followed by residents of the building—children among them—being led to a parking lot across the street. Photos of the aftermath show toys and shoes littering the apartment hallways that were left in the chaos as people were pulled from their beds by the operation that included FBI and Homeland Security agents.
'Military-style tactics'

Pritzker condemned the raid and said that he would work with local law enforcement to hold the agents accountable. “Military-style tactics should never be used on children in a functioning democracy,” he said in a statement on Friday. “​​This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime – it happened here in Chicago. It happened in the United States of America – a country that should be a bastion of freedom, hope, and the rights of our people as guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has touted some 900 arrests in its Chicago operation since it began in early September, as well as the 37 arrests made in the nighttime raid on Tuesday, all of whom it said were “involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and immigration violators.” The DHS said the building was targeted because it was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates,” although it has yet to release the names of those arrested.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted a video of the raid on social media, overlaid with dramatic music, showing helicopters shining bright lights onto the apartment, armed agents kicking down doors and leading people out of the building in restraints.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN following the raid that children were taken into custody “for their own safety and to ensure these children were not being trafficked, abused or otherwise exploited.” The DHS also said that four children who are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send federal authorities and troops to Chicago and other Democratic-run cities to assist in immigration raids and to address what he perceives to be rampant crime.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said on Saturday that the president had authorized the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard members to Chicago, citing what she called "ongoing violent riots and lawlessness."



Gov. Pritzker condemned the deployment as "a manufactured performance."

"This morning, the Trump Administration's Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will," Pritzker said in a statement. "It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will."

The Trump Administration launched expanded immigration enforcement operations in Chicago on Sept. 8 as part of a wider federal crackdown on sanctuary cities across the country.

“This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said of the operation.

Chicago officials mounted a pushback ahead of the crackdown. The city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, signed an order directing Chicago law enforcement and officials not to cooperate with federal agents and established an initiative intended to protect residents’ rights. The city of Evanston, an urban suburb of Chicago, issued a statement warning its residents of impending raids by ICE agents and urging them to report sightings of law enforcement.
Zip-ties and guns

In the aftermath of the sweeping raid, residents and city lawmakers have been demanding answers from the federal government.

Ed Yohnka, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU), told MSNBC on Saturday that the raid represented “an escalation of force and violence” from the federal government in Chicago.

“What we saw was a full-fledged military operation conducted on the south side of Chicago against an apartment building,” he added.

“They just treated us like we were nothing,” Pertissue Fisher, a U.S. citizen who lives in the apartment building, told ABC7 Chicago in an interview soon after the raid. She said she was then handcuffed, held for hours, and released around 3 a.m. This was the first time she said a gun was ever put in her face.

Neighbor Eboni Watson, who witnessed the raid, also told the ABC station that the children were zip-tied—some of them were without clothes—when they were taken out of the residential building by federal agents. “Where’s the morality?” Watson said she kept asking during the raid.

Read More: Trump Vowed His Mass Deportation Efforts Would Target ‘the Worst of the Worst.’ Here’s What the Data Shows

“As a father, I cannot help but think about what it means for a child to be torn from their bed in the middle of the night, detained for no reason other than a show of force,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) president Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “The trauma inflicted on these young people and their families is unconscionable."

ICE and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.
Protests in the aftermath

The increased raids have turned Chicago into a flashpoint in the battle over Trump's crackdown. Protests have increased in across the city in recent weeks over the ICE operations, concentrated outside the ICE detention facility in the suburb of Broadview.

One woman was shot by Border Patrol agents during a protest outside the facility on Saturday, the DHS announced. The agency said in a statement that its agents were "were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars," and were forced to fire defensive when "a suspect tried to run them over."

“One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said on social media. “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.” The woman was later released from hospital, according to Chicago police. Protests have continued at the facility.

ICE’s tactics in the city were also under the spotlight on Friday, when Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed by federal immigration agents at a Chicago medical center after questioning agents about their warrant to arrest at the medical center.

Chicago's Mayor Johnson called ICE’s tactics “abusive.”

The raids come just days after President Trump signaled a desire to make greater use of the U.S. military in American cities during a speech to top military leaders, as he assailed a “war from within” the nation.

“We are under invasion from within,” he said, “no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don't wear uniforms.” In the same speech, he called for U.S. cities to be “training grounds” for the military.

Trump has frequently singled out Chicago in his long-running feud with Democratic-run cities, threatening it with his newly named “Department of War.”


US Border Patrol raid sweeps in citizens, families as Chicago crackdown intensifies

By Renee Hickman, Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson
Sat, October 4, 2025 


FILE PHOTO: USBP Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro sector, Greg Bovino, stands on a street corner with federal agents after patrolling several tourist districts in the downtown area, after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska

CHICAGO (Reuters) -U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed to Chicago led a late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops and breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which swept up U.S. citizens and families.

The show of force highlighted President Donald Trump's unprecedented use of Border Patrol agents as a surge force in major cities, rerouting personnel who would normally be tasked with guarding America’s borders with Mexico and Canada.

Naudelys, a 19-year-old Venezuelan woman, says she was in her apartment with her 4-year-old son and another couple with a baby when agents knocked down their door during the raid early Tuesday. Agents told them to put up their hands and pointed guns at them, she said.

Naudelys, whose husband was arrested and detained by immigration authorities three months ago, said she tried to record the scene but an agent knocked away her phone.

The Spanish-speaking agents told them to go back to their country and made a sexualized remark about Venezuelan women, she said. One of the agents hit a man in front of her son, and she begged him to stop, she said.

"My son was traumatized," said Naudelys, who requested her last name be withheld.

She said authorities alleged her friend's partner is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, something she disputes.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Naudelys' account of the raid.

As part of the raid, some U.S. citizens were temporarily detained and children pulled from their beds, according to interviews with residents and news reports. Building hallways were still littered with debris two days later.

Trump, a Republican, has vowed to escalate immigration enforcement in Chicago and other Democratic strongholds that limit cooperation with federal operations. Border Patrol - staffed with some 19,000 agents and under less pressure with border apprehensions at historic lows - has increasingly taken on a new role in major cities, led by Gregory Bovino, the agency's commander-at-large.

The incident in the city’s South Side neighborhood, which authorities said resulted in dozens of arrests, was one of the highest-profile immigration actions in Chicago since the Trump administration launched "Operation Midway Blitz" in the city last month. Hundreds of agents swarmed the apartment building during the raid on Tuesday, including some rappelling down to the roof from Black Hawk helicopters, according to NewsNation.

AGENTS TOOK CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS

A DHS spokesperson confirmed the operation, saying it focused on alleged members of Tren de Aragua and that border agents partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Authorities arrested at least 37 people on immigration violations, most of whom were Venezuelan, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said two people arrested were alleged members of Tren de Aragua. The department identified six people with criminal histories, ranging from battery to marijuana possession and said two people were suspected of being involved in a shooting.

The spokesperson declined to say whether agents had warrants to forcibly enter homes, saying that because Tren de Aragua has been labeled a terrorist organization "there are sensitivities on what we can provide without putting people at risk."

"This operation was performed in full compliance of the law," the spokesperson said.

Four U.S. citizen children were taken from their parents during the raid because the parents lacked legal status, DHS said, alleging that one of the parents was a Tren de Aragua member.

"These children were taken into custody until they could be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state," the spokesperson said.

Naudelys said authorities released her and her son later that day because she has a pending asylum case. Her apartment was boarded up when she returned, she said. Workers opened it for her, but her possessions were gone, she said.

Cassandra Murray, 55, a resident, said she heard loud blasts as the raids occurred.

She said her Venezuelan neighbors arrived about two years ago. At the time, thousands of Venezuelans who had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border were being bused to Chicago and other cities by the state of Texas.

“They never made us feel unsafe,” said Murray. “They needed somewhere to live, too."

One resident, who asked not to be named, reported being made to lie down on the ground by agents during the raid and having his hands zip-tied.

Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2014-2017 and a former Seattle police chief, said border agents have different training and protocols than local police and worries more aggressive tactics could erode trust.

“Policing an urban environment is totally, completely different,” he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have also come under scrutiny over the use of tear gas against protesters at one of its Chicago facilities and the fatal shooting of a Mexican man.

'WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE'

In Los Angeles over the summer, Border Patrol agents conducted immigration sweeps in Home Depot parking lots and other public areas that contributed to a federal judge’s decision to block overt racial profiling in the area. The Supreme Court in September sided with the Trump administration, allowing it to resume the tactics.

Bovino, who oversaw the L.A. operation, arrived in Chicago several weeks ago. He frequently posts to social media about his agency’s work, often in brash terms.

“We are here, Chicago, and we are not going anywhere,” Bovino said on X last month alongside a video of the arrest of a man he said was a Venezuelan gang member in a Home Depot parking lot, edited to a song by rapper Travis Scott.

A viral video this week showed masked and armed Border Patrol agents chasing a man on an e-bike in downtown Chicago after he taunted them and said he was not a U.S. citizen.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, criticized the deployment of armed Border Patrol agents and other personnel to the city, calling it "authoritarianism" at a press conference on Monday.

"Gregory Bovino has been leading the disruption and causing mayhem while he gleefully poses for photo ops and TikTok videos," he said.

800 arrests amid Chicago immigration 'blitz' of helicopters and midnight raids

Michael Loria and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY
Fri, October 3, 2025

CHICAGO – Federal agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters. Dozens of others, their faces hidden behind masks, arrived in moving trucks. In total, 300 officers stormed a South Side apartment building that Department of Homeland Security officials say harbored criminals.

An agency spokesperson said the raid in the early hours of Sept. 30 was aimed at capturing members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang President Donald Trump has designated as a terrorist organization. Hundreds of agents swarmed apartments in the multi-story building, detaining several American citizens, including children, for hours and netting 37 total arrests. The outcome of those arrests remains unclear.

The extraordinary raid came nearly a month into the White House’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the Chicago area, known as Operation Midway Blitz. Federal officials said it has netted more than 800 arrests since Sept. 8.

“Our continued targeted enforcement in Chicago shows criminals have nowhere to hide,” Michael Banks, the chief of U.S. Border Patrol, said in an X post. “Not at the border, not in our cities.”


Debris and personal belongings sit on the floor of an empty apartment in a complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.

Broken exterior windows of an apartment complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.

The broken exterior windows of an apartment complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.

Debris and personal belongings sit on the floor of an empty apartment in a complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.More
Overnight apartment building raid

The Trump administration has vowed to flood cities run by Democrats with federal agents as part of a nationwide immigration crackdown. Federal officials have targeted so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

The Chicago Sun-Times and NewsNation were among the first to report on the raid in the city’s South Shore neighborhood. The historically Black area gained a sizable Venezuelan population after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bused tens of thousands of migrants from the border to the Democratic city in 2023. Many moved to the neighborhood after first being placed in city-run shelters in the area.

Videos of the raid shared online by the Department of Homeland Security show Border Patrol agents with guns drawn approaching the building in the middle of the night. Agents led shirtless men outside.

The raid saw dozens arrested and the building left in shambles, according to photos shared with USA TODAY. Two "confirmed Tren de Aragua members" were captured, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement.


A protester washes chemical irritant from his eyes after federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls outside of the Broadview ICE processing facility on Sept. 26, 2025. President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement in Chicago.

People protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Ill., Oct. 3, 2025.

Activists proest outside of an immigrant processing and detention center on Oct. 2, 2025 in Broadview, Ill.

A protester washes chemical irritant from his eyes after federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls outside of the Broadview ICE processing facility on Sept. 26, 2025. President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement in Chicago.More

"Federal law enforcement officers will not stand by and allow criminal activity to flourish in our American neighborhoods," Homeland Security said in a statement. Among others captured, according to the agency, were a "suspected" Tren de Aragua member; six people with a criminal history ranging from aggravated battery to possession of marijuana; and two people "suspected of being involved in a shooting investigation."

An American citizen with a local arrest warrant, and four U.S. citizen children of immigrants were also caught up in the raid, Homeland Security reported. The children were taken into custody to be "put in the care of a safe guardian or the state," the agency said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported people were taken outside while still naked; NewsNation reported from the Black Hawk helicopters at the scene.

Videos from the scene taken at about 2 a.m. and shared with USA TODAY show masked agents arriving in the back of Budget and U-Haul moving vans carrying military-style rifles.

Detained immigrants were shown held in a parking lot and across the street a woman crying calls out in broken Spanish, "I’ll always love you."

Federal law enforcement agencies including DHS, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection would not say if the Black Hawks used in the raid were from the U.S. Army, National Guard, or a non-military department.

Arrests create widespread fear

Out of more than 800 people arrested during the last month in the Illinois operations, it’s unclear how many actually had criminal convictions or pending charges, versus those with no criminal record, including children.

An Oct. 1 DHS news release included mugshots of more than a dozen migrants from Eastern Europe and Latin America who had been arrested because of previous criminal convictions.

One Venezuelan woman was listed as the only alleged Tren de Aragua gang member. The Trump administration has focused on the Venezuelan gang despite little evidence of widespread presence in Chicago or the United States more broadly.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said federal agents have failed to focus on violent criminals. Instead, he said in an Oct. 3 social media post, the operations have created panic by scaring residents, violating due process rights and detaining citizens.

“Illinois is not a photo opportunity or warzone,” he said, “it’s a sovereign state where our people deserve rights, respect, and answers.”
Other large-scale ICE raids

In other large-scale operations, federal agents have mostly detained people with no criminal records.

Highly publicized raids across Southern California in June showed most people arrested had no criminal histories. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data showed that, out of over 2,000 people arrested that month, more than two-thirds had no criminal convictions, and over half had never been charged with a crime, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A police officer holds a demonstrator as people protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Broadview facility in Chicago, Illinois, October 3, 2025.

A July raid of a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California, found only four of the 361 people arrested had existing criminal convictions, as the Ventura County Star, part of the USA TODAY Network found.

In September, federal officials led a large worksite raid of a Hyundai battery plant under construction in Georgia. Agents arrested about 475 people, including more than 300 South Koreans, many of whom who were here on visas allowing them to train American workers.

About 71.5% of nearly 60,000 people currently in ICE detention have no criminal convictions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago immigration 'blitz' piles up arrests and criticism

Exclusive-Trump administration eyes stake in company developing Greenland rare earths mine

MERCANTILIST STATE CAPITALI$M

By Jarrett Renshaw, Ernest Scheyder and Gram Slattery
Fri, October 3, 2025 

(Reuters) -Trump administration officials have discussed taking a stake in Critical Metals Corp, four people familiar with the discussions told Reuters, which would give Washington a direct interest in the largest rare earths project in Greenland, the Arctic territory that President Donald Trump once suggested buying.

If finalized, the deal would mark the latest political twist for the Tanbreez rare earths deposit, which former President Joe Biden successfully lobbied to have sold to New York-based Critical Metals for far less than a Chinese firm was offering. Washington has recently taken stakes in Lithium Americas and MP Materials, underscoring Trump's desire for the U.S. to benefit from growing production of minerals used across the global economy.

Details of the discussions about Washington's interest in an equity stake in Critical Metals have not previously been reported. The four sources declined to be named, citing the sensitivity of the negotiations.

"Hundreds of companies are approaching us trying to get the administration to invest in their critical minerals projects," a senior Trump administration official told Reuters in response to a request for comment. "There is absolutely nothing close with this company at this time."

Critical Metals did not respond to repeated requests for comment via email and phone. Greenland is a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and the Danish Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rare earths offer strong magnetic properties critical to high-tech industries ranging from electric vehicles to missile systems. Their importance is spurring an intense push for fresh supplies by Western countries looking to lessen their dependence on China's near total control of their extraction and processing. Critical Metals, which agreed to buy Greenland's Tanbreez deposit last year for $5 million in cash and $211 million in stock, applied in June for a $50 million grant through the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era piece of legislation aimed at boosting production of goods for national security purposes. In the last six weeks, though, the administration has begun discussions with the company about converting the grant into an equity stake, three of the sources said. If the deal goes through, a $50 million conversion would mean a roughly 8% stake in the company, although negotiations are not final and the final size of the stake could be higher or the deal itself could collapse, the same three sources said.

 A general view of the port in Nuuk ./File Photo · Reuters

Administration officials have considered reallocating $2 billion from the CHIPS Act to fund critical minerals projects, Reuters reported in August. The law, formally known as the CHIPS and Science Act, was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and aims to lure chip production away from Asia. The Critical Metals investment discussions were delayed by the administration's negotiations in recent days for a 5% stake in Lithium Americas, two of the sources said. The U.S. government shutdown is not expected to affect the negotiations, given that high-level staff involved in the discussions are considered essential government workers, two of the sources said. Part of the discussion centers on how warrants would be issued to give Washington the stake, one of the sources said. Warrants give their holders the right to buy stock at a set price. The equity stake would be separate from a $120 million loan the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) is considering to help the company develop Tanbreez, according to two of the sources. An EXIM spokesperson was not immediately available to comment. GREENLAND'S APPEAL Even before Trump expressed an interest in acquiring Greenland, Washington had long-running economic interests in the Danish territory. Biden officials were visiting Greenland's capital Nuuk as recently as last November trying to woo additional private investment in the island's mining sector. Trump also sent Vice President JD Vance to the island in March. One of the largest U.S. Air Force bases is in northern Greenland. The Tanbreez project is expected to cost $290 million to bring into commercial production, the company has previously said.

The EXIM loan would be used to fund technical work and get the mine to initial production by 2026. Once fully operational, the mine is expected to produce 85,000 metric tons per year of rare earths concentrate. The site also contains gallium, which China subjected to export restrictions last year, and tantalum. Greenland's mining sector has developed slowly in recent years, hindered by limited investor interest, bureaucratic challenges and environmental concerns. Currently, only two small mines are in operation. The remote, cold location of Tanbreez is seen posing challenges to its development, although the deposit is located near a major waterway.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Ernest Scheyder and Gram Slattery; Writing by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Veronica Brown, Jason Neely and Edmund Klamann)

\

Trump is reviving large sales of coal from public lands. Will anyone want it?

\A haul truck is seen after being loaded with coal by a mechanized shovel at the Spring Creek mine,  near Decker, Mont. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown) · Associated Press

MATTHEW BROWN and MEAD GRUVER
Sat, October 4, 2025

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. officials in the coming days are set to hold the government's biggest coal sales in more than a decade, offering 600 million tons from publicly owned reserves next to strip mines in Montana and Wyoming.

The sales are a signature piece of President Donald Trump's ambitions for companies to dig more coal from federal lands and burn it for electricity. Yet most power plants served by those mines plan to quit burning coal altogether within 10 years, an Associated Press data analysis shows.

Three other mines poised for expansions or new leases under Trump also face declining demand as power plants use less of their coal and in some cases shut down, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor.

Those market realities raise a fundamental question about the Republican administration's push to revive a heavily polluting industry that long has been in decline: Who's going to buy all that coal?

The question looms over the administration's enthusiastic embrace of coal, a leading contributor to climate change. It also shows the uncertainty inherent in inserting those policies into markets where energy-producing customers make long-term decisions with massive implications, not just for their own viability but for the future of the planet, in an ever-shifting political landscape.

Rushing to approve projects

The upcoming lease sales in Montana and Wyoming are in the Powder River Basin, home to the most productive U.S. coal fields.

Officials say they will go forward beginning Monday despite the government shutdown. The administration exempted from furlough those workers who process fossil fuel permits and leases.

Democratic President Joe Biden last year acted to block future coal leases in the region, citing their potential to make climate change worse. Burning the coal from the two leases being sold in coming days would generate more than 1 billion tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide, according to a Department of Energy formula.

Trump rejected climate change as a “con job” during a Sept. 23 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, an assessment that puts him at odds with scientists. He praised coal as “beautiful" and boasted about the abundance of U.S. supplies while deriding solar and wind power. Administration officials said Wednesday that they were canceling $8 billion in grants for clean energy projects in 16 states won by Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

In response to an order from Trump on his first day in office in January, coal lease sales that had been shelved or stalled were revived and rushed to approval, with considerations of greenhouse gas emissions dismissed. Administration officials have advanced coal mine expansions and lease sales in Utah, North Dakota, Tennessee and Alabama, in addition to Montana and Wyoming.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday that the administration is opening more than 20,000 square miles (52,000 square kilometers) of federal lands to mining. That is an area bigger than New Hampshire and Vermont combined.

The administration also sharply reduced royalty rates for coal from federal lands, ordered a coal-fired power plant in Michigan to stay open past planned retirement dates and pledged $625 million to recommission or modernize coal plants amid growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data centers.

“We're putting American miners back to work,” Burgum said, flanked by coal miners and Republican politicians. “We've got a demand curve coming at us in terms of the demand for electricity that is literally going through the roof.”

Coal demand plummets

The AP's finding that power plants served by mines on public lands are burning less coal reflects an industrywide decline that began in 2007.

Energy experts and economists were not surprised. They expressed doubt that coal would ever reclaim dominance in the power sector. Interior Department officials did not respond to questions about future demand for coal from public lands.

But it will take time for more electricity from planned natural gas and solar projects to come online. That means Trump’s actions could give a short-term bump to coal, said Umed Paliwal, an expert in electricity markets at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Eventually coal will get pushed out of the market,” Paliwal said. “The economics will just eat the coal generation over time.”

The coal sales in Montana and Wyoming were requested by Navajo Nation-owned company. The Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC) has been one of the largest industry players since buying several major mines in the Powder River Basin during a 2019 bankruptcy auction. Those mines supply 34 power plants in 19 states.

Twenty-one of the plants are scheduled to stop burning coal in the next decade. They include all five plants using coal from NTEC's Spring Creek mine in Montana.

In filings with federal officials, the company said the fair market value of 167 million tons of federal coal next to the Spring Creek mine was just over $126,000.

That is less than one-tenth of a penny per ton, a fraction of what coal brought in its heyday. By comparison, the last large-scale lease sale in the Powder River Basin, also for 167 million tons of coal, drew a bid of $35 million in 2013. Federal officials rejected that as too low.

NTEC said the low value was supported by prior government reviews predicting fewer buyers for coal. The company said taxpayers would benefit in future years from royalties on any coal mined.

“The market for coal will decline significantly over the next two decades. There are fewer coal mines expanding their reserves, there are fewer buyers of thermal coal and there are more regulatory constraints,” the company said.

In central Wyoming on Wednesday, the government will sell 440 million tons of coal next to NTEC’s Antelope Mine. Just over half of the 29 power plants served by the mine are scheduled to stop burning coal by 2035.

Among them is the Rawhide plant in northern Colorado. It is due to quit coal in 2029 but will keep making electricity with natural gas and 30 megawatts of solar panels.

Aging plants and optimism

The largest U.S. coal company has offered a more optimistic take on coal's future. Because new nuclear and gas plants are years away, Peabody Energy suggested in September that demand for coal in the U.S. could increase 250 million tons annually — up almost 50% from current volumes.

Peabody’s projection was based on the premise that existing power plants can burn more coal. That amount, known as plant capacity, dropped by about half in recent years.

"U.S. coal is clearly in comeback mode," Peabody's president, James Grech, said in a recent conference call with analysts. “The U.S. has more energy in its coal reserves than any nation has in any one energy source.”

No large coal power plants have come online in the U.S. since 2013. Most existing plants are 40 years old or older. Money pledged by the administration to refurbish older plants will not go very far given that a single boiler component at a plant can cost $25 million to replace, said Nikhil Kumar with GridLab, an energy consulting group.

That leads back to the question of who will buy the coal.

“I don't see where you get all this coal consumed at remaining facilities," Kumar said.

___

Gruver reported from Wellington, Colorado. Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.

Trump's 'paper tiger' jab at Russia echoes Mao's propaganda against the US

DIDI TANG
Fri, October 3, 2025


FILE - President Donald Trump silences his mobile phone in the Oval Office of the White House, May 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 80 years after Mao Zedong called the United States a “paper tiger” to boost morale at home, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are exchanging barbs who is the paper tiger of today.

In a Sept. 23 post on Truth Social, Trump mocked Russia's military powers and called the country “a paper tiger,” prompting the Kremlin to push back. Trump backed off, but on Tuesday he brought back the dismissive rhetoric when addressing a roomful of generals and admirals. “You’re four years fighting a war that should have taken a week," Trump said of Russia's war with Ukraine. "Are you a paper tiger?”

On Thursday, Putin retorted, “We are fighting against the entire bloc of NATO, and we keep moving, keep advancing and feel confident, and we are a paper tiger; what NATO itself is?”

He added: “A paper tiger? Go and deal with this paper tiger then.”

Those familiar with modern Chinese history have found it amusing, odd and not without irony that an American president should be using a classic Chinese propaganda slogan — words that came from the heart of a communist government that is the polar opposite of what the Trump administration frames as the best way to run a country.

“As a Chinese historian I had to laugh at the irony when President Trump appropriated one of Chairman Mao’s favorite expressions in calling Russia a ‘paper tiger,’” said John Delury, a senior fellow at Asia Society.

“Mao famously said this about the United States, at a time when the U.S. had a growing nuclear arsenal and China was not yet a nuclear power. ... How times have changed. Now the leaders of the United States and Russia are calling one another ‘paper tigers’ as Chinese leader Xi Jinping sits back looking like the adult in the room.”

How paper tiger became a propaganda term in China

The phrase — “zhilaohu” in China's dominant dialect — is well-rooted in the culture of the Chinese Communist Party. Perry Link, a well-known American scholar on modern Chinese language and culture, recalled that Lao She, a famous Chinese writer, referred to U.S. troops as the “paper tiger” during the Korean War years.

“There’s a Cold War echo across this whole story,” said Rana Mitter, a British historian specializing in modern Chinese history.

Accounts by Chinese state media and essays by party theorists say the phrase entered into the party vocabulary when Mao, the founding revolutionary, told the American journalist Anna Louise Strong in a 1946 interview that the atom bomb by the United States was a “paper tiger,” which the “U.S. reactionaries use to scare people.”

Mao then used the Chinese phrase “zhilaohu,” which means paper tiger literally. But his interpreter translated it into “scarecrow,” according to state media reports, before an American doctor who was present suggested “paper tiger," which Mao approved. The phrase largely refers to something that is seemingly powerful but actually fragile.

Delury said at the time that Moscow, which took the nuclear threat seriously, was aghast that Mao “casually” dismissed the threat and was annoyed that “Mao would brazenly use 'paper tiger’ rhetoric at a time when if nuclear war broke out, China would rely on Russian involvement.”

The term became ‘a sharp thought weapon’ for China

That didn't happen. Mao seized power in 1949, and the phrase “zhilaohu” became a propaganda staple in communist China, closely associated with western imperialists, particularly the United States. Mao famously said that “all reactionaries are paper tigers.” In canonizing the leader's wisdom, party theorists have called the slogan Mao's “strategic thought" and “a sharp thought weapon.

The rhetoric subsided when U.S.-China ties warmed in the 1970s, but it resurfaced in recent years as bilateral relations chilled.

In April, in the heat of a tariff war between the two countries, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson posted on X a Mao quotation from 1964: “The U.S. intimidates certain countries, stopping them from doing business with us. But America is just a paper tiger. Don't believe its bluff. One poke, and it'll burst."

Before Trump borrowed Beijing's propaganda slogan to mock Russia, the phrase had already seeped into the public discourse in the United States. In a February editorial, Eugene Robinson, a Washington Post columnist, criticized Trump's foreign policy and compared it to bullying. “Trump’s foreign policy is that of a paper tiger, not a real one,” wrote the columnist, now retired.

And in May, Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University professor, called Trump “a paper tiger” when assuring Harvard's international students not to be scared by the president's hostile policy towards foreign students.

TRUMP GESTAPO

Apple removes Ice tracking apps after pressure from Trump administration

Johana Bhuiyan and agency
Fri, October 3, 2025 
THE GUARDIAN

Federal agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection walk along on 28 September in Chicago.Photograph: Ashlee Rezin/AP

Apple has removed an app from its App Store that uses crowdsourcing to flag sightings of US immigration agents after facing pressure from Donald Trump’s administration.

IceBlock, a free iPhone-only app that lets users anonymously report and monitor activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, was no longer available on Friday. The app’s developer said last month that it had more than 1 million users.

“We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock has been removed from the App Store due to “objectionable content’,” the developer said in a social media post. “The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure from the Trump Admin. We have responded and we’ll fight this!”

Related: Documents offer rare insight on Ice’s close relationship with Palantir

Even though it has been removed from the app marketplace, those who have already downloaded the app should still be able to use it. Downloads of apps including IceBlock have surged as the Trump administration steps up immigration enforcement with surprise raids. The technology has come under fire from authorities after agents were targeted.

“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” Apple said in a statement. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”

The app, first launched in April, was founded by indie musician turned entrepreneur Joshua Aaron. It’s a Waze-like app that allows users to alert others when they see Ice agents within a 5-mile radius of their current location. When Aaron first tried to put it on the Apple App Store, the release was pushed back for three weeks as he went back-and-forth with the company’s legal team and other “higher-ups” about the parameters of the app – including whether Aaron would be able to protect the privacy of IceBlock users.

“There were conversations almost on a daily basis with senior people there saying: ‘Is this even legal? Can we do this? Are we going to get in trouble for having this?’” Aaron previously told the Guardian.

The founder said Apple had a particularly difficult time understanding how Aaron, who did not intend to profit off the app and thus would not collect any data, would protect the privacy of the app’s users.

“Apple had a hard time wrapping their head around it, because they were like: ‘What do you mean you’re never going to make money? What do you mean you’re never going to track anything?’” Aaron said. “I was like: ‘Yeah, that’s the point. I don’t care.’ I don’t care about people’s data as far as being able to get analytics or track them or sell their data. I don’t care about any of that. I care about keeping people safe. That is literally the whole point. Eventually they allowed it on.”

Related: The Ice alert app founder sparking fury in Trump officials: ‘Pam Bondi said I better watch out? Please.’

In June – within two months of the app’s launch – Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, said the app and its founder were “obstructing justice”. At the time, Noem suggested prosecuting CNN for reporting on the app. Months later, Aaron’s wife, Carolyn Feinstein, lost her job at the Department of Justice – a move the duo said they believe was “retaliation” for the creation and operation of IceBlock.

In a July interview on Fox News, Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said crowdsourced apps that allow people to communicate about the location of law enforcement officers is not allowed, specifically referring to IceBlock.

“We are looking at him and he better watch out because that’s not a protected speech,” Bondi said at the time, referring to Aaron.

Aaron responded to Bondi’s threat directly, telling the Guardian: “Please, come on. I better watch out? Why? I’m protected under the first amendment. This is perfectly legal, and I made sure of that.”

Yet there are many apps that track law enforcement and remain available to users, such as Waze or Google Maps. Those apps, in addition to providing navigation, alert drivers of potential locations of speed traps.

Officials said last month that a gunman who opened fire on an Ice facility in Dallas had searched for apps that tracked the presence of Ice agents.

Newsom signs bill giving 800,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in California the right to unionize

TRÂN NGUYỄN
Fri, October 3, 2025 


FILE - A Lyft driver takes a customer to the airport, Jan. 29, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More than 800,000 drivers for ride-hailing companies in California will soon be able to join a union and bargain collectively for better wages and benefits under a measure signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Supporters said the new law will open a path for the largest expansion of private sector collective bargaining rights in the state's history. The legislation is a significant compromise in the yearslong battle between labor unions and tech companies.

California is the second state where Uber and Lyft drivers can unionize as independent contractors. Massachusetts voters passed a ballot referendum in November allowing unionization, while drivers in Illinois and Minnesota are pushing for similar rights.

Newsom announced the signing at an unrelated news conference at University of California, Berkeley. The new law will give drivers “dignity and a say about their future,” he said.

The new law is part of an agreement made in September between Newsom, state lawmakers and the Service Employees International Union, along with rideshare companies Uber and Lyft. In exchange, Newsom also signed a measure supported by Uber and Lyft to significantly cut the companies' insurance requirements for accidents caused by underinsured drivers.

Lyft CEO David Risher said in September that the new insurance rates are expected to save the company $200 million and could help reduce fares.

Uber and Lyft fares in California are consistently higher than in other parts of the U.S. because of insurance requirements, the companies say. Uber has said that nearly one-third of every ride fare in the state goes toward paying for state-mandated insurance.

Labor unions and tech companies have fought for years over drivers' rights. In July of last year, the California Supreme Court ruled that app-based ride-hailing and delivery services like Uber and Lyft can continue treating their drivers as independent contractors not entitled to benefits like overtime pay, paid sick leave and unemployment insurance. A 2019 law mandated that Uber and Lyft provide drivers with benefits, but voters reversed it at the ballot in 2020.

The collective bargaining measure now allows rideshare workers in California to join a union while still being classified as independent contractors and requires gig companies to bargain in good faith. The new law doesn’t apply to drivers for delivery apps like DoorDash.

The insurance measure will reduce the coverage requirement for accidents caused by uninsured or underinsured drivers from $1 million to $60,000 per individual and $300,000 per accident.

The two measures "together represent a compromise that lowers costs for riders while creating stronger voices for drivers —demonstrating how industry, labor, and lawmakers can work together to deliver real solutions,” Ramona Prieto, head of public policy for California at Uber, said in a statement.

Rideshare Drivers United, a Los Angeles-based advocacy group of 20,000 drivers, said the collective bargaining law isn’t strong enough to give workers a fair contract. The group wanted to require the companies to report its data on pay to the state.

New York City drivers' pay increased after the city started requiring the companies to report how much an average driver earns, the group said.

“Drivers really need the backing of the state to ensure that not only is a wage proposal actually going to help drivers, but that there is progress in drivers' pay over the years,” said Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United.

Other drivers said the legislation will provide more job safety and benefits.

Many who support unionization said they have faced a slew of issues, including being “deactivated” from their apps without an explanation or fair appeals process when a passenger complains.

Key Democrat blasts 'abrupt' end of popular US tariff exemption for package shipments

TRUMP'S WORST TARIFF IMPACTS ALL US CONSUMERS

By David Lawder and Lisa Baertlein
Fri, October 3, 2025 


U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) speaks, as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policy, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin MohattMore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee accused the Trump administration of having inadequate customs procedures in place as it ended the "de minimis" U.S. tariff exemption for packages valued below $800, leading to severe disruptions in mail shipments to U.S. shoppers and small businesses.

Senator Ron Wyden in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seen by Reuters requested answers on how the department concluded that adequate systems were in place to collect duties on low-value packages as the exemption ended on August 29.

Wyden, one of the Democratic Party's most influential voices on tax and trade matters in Congress, sought to put a negative spin on the administration's claim that it closed a dangerous trade loophole.

The de minimis exemption allowed nearly 1.4 billion packages to enter the U.S. duty free in 2024 and fueled a boom in direct-to-consumer e-commerce shipments from Chinese e-commerce firms Shein and Temu .

Wyden said the change was "hasty," leading to "mass disruptions in international shipments, confusion and increased costs for American consumers and small businesses." He cited data from the U.N.'s Universal Postal Union (UPU) showing that on August 29, the day the de minimis exemption ended, total postal shipments to the U.S. had fallen 81%.

"I have serious concerns about your judgment and seek additional information regarding your role in the decision to abruptly end de minimis without proper systems in place to handle the change," Wyden wrote in the letter to Lutnick.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, which is charged with collecting import duties, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Commerce Department.

A spokesperson for the UPU said the agency would be updating its U.S. shipment figures, which do not include commercial express shipments such as those from FedEx or United Parcel Service, in coming weeks. The U.S. Postal Service declined to comment on incoming shipment volumes for foreign postal packages.

Shippers of illicit drugs and fentanyl precursor chemicals also have exploited de minimis due to limited inspections for many packages claiming the exemption.

(Reporting by David Lawder and Lisa Baertlein; editing by Diane Craft)

The only protestor still locked up after Trump’s campus crackdown breaks silence: 'I feel helpless'

JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ADAM GELLER
Fri, October 3, 2025 


In this undated photo, Leqaa Kordia sits for a portrait in New York. (AP Photo)


NEW YORK (AP) — Growing up in the West Bank, Leqaa Kordia was separated from family in Gaza by Israeli restrictions on movement between the territories. So aunts and uncles in Gaza would call from the beach there, allowing Kordia to share her cousins’ laughter and glimpse the waves.

Now many of those relatives are dead, killed in the war that has destroyed much of the Strip. And more than 200 days after Kordia was swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, she despairs over being unable to give her family a voice.

“Most days I feel helpless,” said Kordia, 32, speaking from a Texas immigration detention center where she has been jailed since March. “I want to do something, but I can’t from here. I can’t do anything.”

Kordia, a Palestinian who has lived in New Jersey since 2016, was one of the first arrested in the government’s campaign against protesters, many of them prominent activists. All the others have gained release.

Only Kordia — mischaracterized by the government, largely overlooked by the public and caught in a legal maze — languishes in detention. That is, in part, because her story differs from most others who thronged campuses.

When she joined demonstrations against Israel outside Columbia University, she wasn't a student or part of a group that might have provided support. As the arrests of activists like Mahmoud Khalil drew condemnation from elected officials and advocates, Kordia’s case largely remained out of the public eye.

And Kordia has been reluctant to draw attention to herself.

In her first interview since her arrest, Kordia said recently that she was moved to protest because of deep personal ties to Gaza, where more than 170 relatives have been killed. The government has cast those ties as suspect, pointing to Kordia’s money transfers to relatives in the Middle East as evidence of possible ties to terrorists.

Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security didn't reply to calls for comment. An agency spokesperson declined to answer questions about the case.

In a blistering decision this week, a federal judge found the Trump administration unlawfully targeted protesters for speaking out. That ruling isn't binding, though, in the highly conservative district where Kordia’s case is being heard.

“The government has tried again and again to muster some kind of justification to hold this young woman in custody indefinitely,” said her immigration attorney, Sarah Sherman-Stokes. “It doesn’t seem to matter to them that they have no evidence.


Kordia grew up in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Her parents divorced when she was a child and her mother remarried, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen. In 2016, Kordia came to the U.S. on a visitor’s visa, staying with her mother in Paterson, New Jersey, which is home to one of the nation’s largest Arab communities.

Soon after, Kordia enrolled in an English-language program and obtained a student visa. Her mother applied to let Kordia remain in the U.S. as the relative of a citizen.

The application was approved, but no visas were available. Government lawyers say Kordia has been in the U.S. illegally since she left school in 2022, surrendering her student status and invalidating her visa. Kordia said she believed then that her mother's application assured her own legal status and that she mistakenly followed a teacher’s advice.

Kordia worked as a server at a Middle Eastern restaurant on Paterson’s Palestine Way while helping to care for her half brother, who has autism.

Those routines were upended in October 2023, after Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Israel responded with a massive military campaign, killing more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

In calls with relatives in Gaza “they were telling me that ’We’re hungry. …We are scared. We’re cold. We don’t have anywhere to go,” Kordia said. “So my way of helping my family and my people was to go to the streets.”

Kordia said she joined more than a dozen protests in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. In April 2024, she was arrested with 100 other protesters outside Columbia's gates — charges quickly dismissed by prosecutors and sealed.

Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump issued executive orders equating the protests with antisemitism. DHS intelligence analysts began assembling dossiers on noncitizens who criticized Israel or protested the war, based on doxing sites and information from police.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice,” Trump said in a fact sheet accompanying the orders. “Come 2025 we will find you and we will deport you.”

Surveillance, arrest and confusion

In March, immigration agents showed up at Kordia's home and workplace, as well as her uncle’s house in Florida. “The experience was very confusing,” she said. “It was like: Why are you doing all this?”

Kordia hired a lawyer before agreeing to a March 13 meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Newark. She was detained immediately and flown to Prairieland Detention Center, south of Dallas.

Once there, she was assigned a bare mattress on the floor and denied religious accommodations, including Halal meals, her lawyers said.

When her cousin, Hamzah Abushaban, visited Kordia about a week after her arrest, he was taken aback by the dark circles under her eyes and her state of confusion.

“One of the first things she asked me was why was she there,” Abushaban said. “She cried a lot. She looked like death.”

“I must’ve asked her a thousand times, like, you’re sure you didn’t commit a crime?” he said. “What she thought and I thought was probably going to be a few more days of being detained has turned into almost, what, 7 months now.”

Kordia said that she didn’t understand the reasons for her detention until a week or two later, when a television at the facility was tuned to news of protester arrests.

“I see my name, literally in big letters, on CNN and I was like, what’s going on?” she said.

Payments scrutinized

Administration officials touted Kordia’s arrest as part of the deportation effort against those who “actively participated in anti-American, pro-terrorist activities.” A DHS press release noted her arrest the previous year at a “pro-Hamas” demonstration, mistakenly labeling her as a Columbia student.

Court papers show New York police gave records of her dismissed arrest to DHS — an apparent violation of a city law barring cooperation with immigration enforcement. Federal officials told police the information was needed in a criminal money laundering investigation, a police spokesperson later said.

At a bond hearing weeks later, government attorneys argued for Kordia’s continued detention, pointing to subpoenaed records showing she had sent “large amounts of money to Palestine and Jordan.”

Kordia said she and her mother had sent the money, totaling $16,900 over eight years, to relatives. A $1,000 payment in 2022 went to an aunt in Gaza whose home and hair salon had been destroyed in an Israeli strike. Two more payments last year went to a cousin struggling to feed his family.

“To hear the government accusing them of being terrorists and accusing you of sending money to terrorists, this is heartbreaking,” Kordia said.

An immigration judge, examining transaction records and statements from relatives, found “overwhelming evidence” that Kordia was telling the truth about the payments.

That judge has twice ordered her released on bond. The government has challenged the ruling, triggering a lengthy appeals process — highly unusual in immigration cases that don’t involve serious crimes.

Typically, when the government goes after someone for overstaying a visa, they are rarely arrested, let alone held in prolonged detention, said Adam Cox, a professor of immigration law at New York University.

“The kind of scale and scope and publicness of the campaign against student protesters by the Trump administration is really nothing like we’ve seen in recent memory,” said Cox, who studies the rise of presidential power in immigration policy.

‘One person left behind’

Kordia has sought release in federal court, the same path taken by Khalil and others. Whether she succeeds may depend on an appeals court in New York, which heard arguments this week from government attorneys who contend that such relief should be largely off-limits to noncitizens.

Khalil, who was freed in June, said he had followed Kordia’s case closely, asking lawyers to relay messages and reminding his supporters “that there is one person left behind.”

“She came straight from the West Bank, escaping the daily ordeals of settlers and administrative detention only to deal with a version of that here,” said Khalil, referring to Israel's practice of jailing some Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial. “It breaks my heart that she’s going through all of this.”

As detention stretches on, Kordia said it’s been difficult to follow developments in the war, let alone maintain contact with relatives caught in the conflict.

But it’s provided many hours to think about a time when the war is finally over and she can find peace.

That would start by being reunited with her mother and other relatives, she said, and maybe one day having a family of her own. She dreams of opening a cafe and introducing people to Palestinian culture through food. She wants to pursue an American life.

“That’s all I wanted, to live with my family in peace in a land that appreciates freedom,” she says. “That’s literally all that I want.”

School district says it will pursue legal action after superintendent detained by ICE

HEAD HUNTER ORG WAS LOWBALL BIDDER FOR SUPER SEARCH

JAMES HILL and MEREDITH DELISO
Fri, October 3, 2025 

ABC

The Des Moines Public Schools board announced Friday it intends to pursue legal action against a consulting firm it says it hired in 2023 to conduct a search for a new superintendent, claiming the firm failed to "properly vet candidates" after the district's now-former superintendent was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week.

Federal authorities said the superintendent, Ian Roberts, is not in the U.S. legally and has not had any work authorization in the U.S. since 2020. He had served as the superintendent of the Des Moines school district since July 2023 until his resignation this week following his detainment.

Polk County Sheriff - PHOTO: Ian Andre Roberts' booking photo.

"Ian Roberts should have never been presented as a finalist, and if we knew what we know now, he would never have been hired,” Des Moines Public Schools board chair Jackie Norris said after the board emerged from a closed session Friday morning.


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Norris claimed it has become clear that the consulting firm failed to turn up information "of a negative nature" about Roberts that it should have flagged to the school board.

"It's clear that people are identifying and finding information in a matter of hours," Norris said, in reference to public reporting on Roberts since his arrest by ICE last week. "And so it's probably something that they should have caught, and that was our expectation."

Des Moines superintendent to resign after being detained by ICE, lawyer says

Norris said the search firm, in its contract with the school board, was responsible for advertising, recruitment, application and resume review, public domain search, complete reference checks and presentation of qualified candidates. It also said it would conduct comprehensive reference calls on each applicant to include the verification of all related employment experiences, and would sub-contract with another company for a comprehensive criminal, credit and background check, she said.

Norris said since Roberts' detainment, the district has learned "troubling information about someone we trusted," but did not go into detail.

"We are pursuing legal action as allowed by law. This is about accountability, taxpayer dollars, and we are seeking accountability," Norris said. "As the facts revealed themselves over the past several days, it was crystal clear that the search firm did not do its job."

In response to the litigation, an attorney for the consulting firm, JG Consulting, said the Texas-based executive search firm is "proud of its extensive record of successfully supporting school districts across the nation."

"With regard to Mr. Roberts and his immigration status, he provided the documents necessary to show that he was eligible for the position in Des Moines," the attorney, Josh Romero, said in a statement. "Beyond that, our team conducted a thorough search of his background and utilized a respected third-party company trusted by many search firms to verify Mr. Roberts' information."

Romero noted any "discrepancy regarding his immigration status" was not found by Roberts' prior employers or other consulting firms or boards.

"That the district has now decided to litigate about their choice of candidate at this time, when they have had all relevant information since the beginning, is unfortunate and unwarranted," Romero added. "We will answer any claims brought by the district in court."

ICE - PHOTO: Ian Roberts in a photo dated, Feb. 26, 2025, released by ICE.

The district's petition against JG Consulting, filed Friday in Iowa District Court in Polk County, alleges that the company "materially breached" its obligations under the agreement by “among other things, failing to properly vet Roberts and by referring Roberts as a candidate when he could not lawfully hold the position."

The petition noted there have multiple reports since the detainment "casting doubt on the truthfulness of Roberts' stated biographical and professional background," but did not go into further detail.


"As a result of JG Consulting's breaches, the District has sustained damages, including but not limited to the costs of employing, compensating, and now replacing Roberts, as well as reputational harm," the petition alleges.


The district is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial, according to the petition.

Former Des Moines superintendent who was detained by ICE federally charged

Roberts, 54, entered the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa that has since expired, and a judge issued a final order of removal against him in May 2024, according to federal authorities.

He resigned as superintendent of the 35,000-student district on Tuesday, a day after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts' administrator license and the Des Moines School Board voted unanimously to put him on unpaid administrative leave and to provide proof he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination. He did not provide the board with that information, according to Norris.

Norris had previously said the Des Moines School Board was not aware of Roberts' immigration issues at the time of his hiring and that the board is "also a victim of deception by Dr. Roberts, one on a growing list that includes our students and teachers, our parents and community, our elected officials, and Iowa's Board of Educational Examiners, and others."

The board says it hired JG Consulting in January 2023 from a pool of 11 companies considered to conduct a search for a new superintendent. JG's pricing bid was on the lower end of proposals submitted to the board, according to district records. The contact called for the firm to be paid $35,000 plus reasonable travel expenses for candidates for the position.

The board said at the time it selected JG that it did so for its record of placing urban superintendents, its strong team and a demonstrated commitment to diversity and equity, as well as noted it submitted a competitive cost proposal.

Following Roberts' detainment, the firm said in a statement on Sunday that its process "included a comprehensive background review by a nationally recognized third-party firm" and that "all required employment procedures were completed by DMPS prior to his appointment."

ICE - PHOTO: A photo of what ICE reported as a loaded handgun found in Ian Robert's vehicle, Sept. 26, 2025.

Roberts remains in federal custody and has since been arrested for alleged firearm offenses. After he was detained by ICE agents on Sept. 26, a loaded handgun was found in his vehicle, and three additional firearms were located in his residence, according to a federal criminal complaint charging him with being an "illegal alien in possession of firearms."

In addition to his citizenship status and eligibility to work, portions of Roberts' resume have also come under scrutiny following his detainment regarding portions of his educational history.

Among them, a spokesperson for MIT's Sloan School of Management said in a statement that they have no record of Roberts attending as an MBA candidate in 2019-2021, as Roberts has claimed on his LinkedIn profile.

A spokesperson for George Washington University said the school never gave Roberts a "Principal of the Year" award in Washington, D.C., in 2013, as was stated on Roberts' since-removed superintendent biography on the Des Moines Public Schools' website.

ABC News reached out to his attorney for comment but did not receive a response.

The attorney, Alfredo Parrish, said earlier this week that his office has filed a motion in immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska, to stay the educator's order of removal.

"This is a very complex case," Parrish said during a press briefing Tuesday. "It's complex, it's difficult and there are a lot of what I would call a myriad of issues that are involved."