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Tag Archives: donald trump

Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after being blocked

Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after being blocked

By JENNIFER PELTZ and ALEXANDRIA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press

OCHOPEE, Fla. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida’s new Everglades immigration detention center after visiting Saturday, describing it as crowded, unsanitary and bug-infested. Republicans on the same tour said they saw nothing of the sort at the remote facility that officials have dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz.”

The state-arranged tour came after some Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the 3,000-bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. So many state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups.

“There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, told reporters after visiting the agglomeration of tents, trailers and temporary buildings. “This place is a stunt, and they’re abusing human beings here.”

The first group of immigrants has arrived at the center in the Florida Everglades. It was built in eight days and could eventually hold 3,000 people. (AP Video: Rebecca Blackwell)

Cage-style units of 32 men share three combination toilet-sink devices, the visitors measured the temperature at 83 degrees (28 degrees Celsius) in a housing area entranceway and 85 (29 Celsius) in a medical intake area, and grasshoppers and other insects abound, she and her fellow Florida Democrats said.

Although the visitors said they were not able to speak with the detainees, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, also a Democrat, said one called out “I’m an American citizen!” and others chanted “Libertad!,” Spanish for “freedom.”

State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Florida, countered that he had seen a well-run, safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well.

“The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality,” said Ingoglia, who said he toured in the same group as Wasserman Schultz. Ingoglia said a handful of detainees became “a little raucous” when the visitors appeared, but he did not make out what they were saying.

State Sen. Jay Collins was in another group and said he also found the detention center to be clean and functioning well: “No squalor.”

Collins, a Republican, said he saw backup generators, a tracking system for dietary restrictions and military-style bunks with good mattresses. The sanitation devices struck him as appropriate, if basic.

“Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house? Probably not, but this is a transitional holding facility,” Collins said by phone.

Journalists were not allowed on the tour, and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside.

Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Emergency Management, which built the facility, and to representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia’s upbeat readouts on social media.

Across the state in Tampa, federal Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that of the Everglades detention center that “any issues that were there have been addressed.” She added that she has talked with five unnamed Republican governors about modeling other facilities on it.

DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center, constructed in days as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump’s call for mass deportations. The first detainees arrived July 3, after Trump toured and praised the facility.

Described as temporary, it is meant to help the Republican president’s administration reach its goal of boosting migrant detention capacity from 41,000 people to at least 100,000. The Florida facility’s remote location and its name — a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California — are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration.

Ahead of the facility’s opening, state officials said detainees would have access to medical care, consistent air conditioning, a recreation yard, attorneys and clergy members.

But detainees and their relatives and advocates have told The Associated Press that conditions are awful, with worm-infested food, toilets overflowing onto floors, mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks, and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat. One man told his wife that detainees go days without getting showers.

Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions “completely false,” saying detainees always get three meals a day, unlimited drinking water, showers and other necessities.

“The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” she said.

Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site July 3 but said they were denied access. The state subsequently arranged Saturday’s tour.

The lawmakers have sued over the earlier denial, accusing the DeSantis administration of impeding their oversight authority. A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit “dumb.”

___

Peltz reported from New York, and Rodriguez reported from Ochopee.

Trump says he’s considering ‘taking away’ Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

Trump says he’s considering ‘taking away’ Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is considering revoking actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship. On Saturday, Trump claimed on social media that O’Donnell is not in the “best interests” of the country and suggested she should stay in Ireland, where she moved earlier this year. Legal experts, however, note the Constitution prevents the government from stripping citizenship from native-born Americans. O’Donnell, born in the U.S., has a constitutional right to her citizenship. The two have feuded publicly for years.… Continue Reading

Trump announces 30% tariffs against EU, Mexico to begin Aug. 1, rattling major US trading partners

Trump announces 30% tariffs against EU, Mexico to begin Aug. 1, rattling major US trading partners

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump has announced he’s levying tariffs of 30% against the European Union and Mexico starting Aug. 1. Trump detailed the planned tariffs Saturday in letters posted to his social media account. It’s a move that could cause massive upheaval between the U.S. and two of its biggest trade partners. European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU may adopt “proportionate countermeasures” if Trump moves ahead with the tariffs. Mexico’s government in a statement described the proposed move by Trump as “unfair treatment.” The letters are part of an announcement blitz by Trump of new tariffs with allies and foes alike, a bedrock of his 2024 campaign that he said would set the foundation for reviving a U.S. economy.… Continue Reading

Furor over Epstein files sparks clash between Bondi and Bongino at the Justice Department

Furor over Epstein files sparks clash between Bondi and Bongino at the Justice Department

WASHINGTON (AP) — The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files flap is cascading, further roiling a Justice Department and FBI that have struggled for months to appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump’s base. In a sign of continued tumult, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino were revealed to have had a contentious conversation at the White House earlier in the week over the Epstein documents and a recent story that described divisions between the FBI and Justice Department. The turmoil arising from the Epstein investigation lays bare the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they had stoked.… Continue Reading

Trump tours Texas flood sites and defends officials as questions mount about response

Trump tours Texas flood sites and defends officials as questions mount about response

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump is visiting Texas to assess catastrophic flooding that has killed at least 120 people. Despite his past calls to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Republican president has praised the federal response to the disaster. Trump plans to tour affected areas by air, meet first responders and speak with victims’ families. Top members of Trump’s administration have also shifted focus from reducing federal disaster management efforts to addressing the tragedy’s human impact. Before Trump left on Friday, his director of the Office of Management and Budget suggested FEMA needs reform but didn’t answer questions about whether the agency should be shuttered.… Continue Reading

Gains for tech stocks push Nasdaq to another record

Gains for tech stocks push Nasdaq to another record

A rally in big tech stocks led Wall Street to a higher close, lifting the Nasdaq to another all-time high. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9%. Nvidia became the first public company to top $4 trillion in value. Merck rose after announcing it would buy Verona Pharma, a U.K. company that focuses on respiratory diseases. Copper prices eased after spiking a day earlier as President Donald Trump said he would impose 50% tariffs on imports of the metal. Treasury yields slipped in the bond market.… Continue Reading

Troops and federal agents briefly descend on LA’s MacArthur Park in largely immigrant neighborhood

Troops and federal agents briefly descend on LA’s MacArthur Park in largely immigrant neighborhood

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear roamed a mostly empty park in a Los Angeles neighborhood with a large immigrant population for about an hour before clearing out. It wasn’t immediately known if any arrests were made Monday. Defense officials had said about 90 members of the California National Guard and over a dozen military vehicles would help protect immigration officers as they carried out a raid in MacArthur Park. Mayor Karen Bass called it a “political stunt,” and said: “What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation.”… Continue Reading

Musk says he’s forming a new political party after split with Trump over tax cuts law

Musk says he’s forming a new political party after split with Trump over tax cuts law

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Elon Musk said he’s carrying out his threat to form a new political party after his fissure with President Donald Trump, announcing on social media that he would form the America Party in response to the president’s sweeping tax cuts law. Musk, once a ever-present ally to Trump as he headed up the slashing agency known as the Department of Government Efficiency, broke with the Republican president over his signature legislation, which was signed into law Friday. Trump on Sunday called Musk’s third-party effort “ridiculous.”… Continue Reading

Trump signs his tax and spending cut bill at the White House July 4 picnic

Trump signs his tax and spending cut bill at the White House July 4 picnic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed his signature bill of tax and spending cuts at the White House Fourth of July picnic. He’s taking a victory lap after muscling his main legislative priority through the Republican-controlled Congress. Fighter jets and a stealth bomber streaked through the sky over the picnic as Trump and first lady Melania Trump stepped out onto the White House balcony. The legislation extends Trump’s 2017 multi-trillion dollar tax cuts and cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion. It provides for a massive increase in immigration enforcement. Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that nearly 12 million more people will lose health insurance under the law.… Continue Reading

The House gives final approval to Trump’s big tax bill in a milestone for his second-term agenda

The House gives final approval to Trump’s big tax bill in a milestone for his second-term agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have propelled President Donald Trump’s multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final congressional passage. Republicans overcame multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package Thursday before a Fourth of July deadline. GOP leaders worked overnight, and the president himself leaned on a handful of skeptics to drop their opposition and send the bill to his desk to become law. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delayed voting for more than eight hours with a record-breaking speech against the bill. It’s $4.5 trillion in tax breaks, with $1.2 trillion in cuts to government programs. The president is expected to sign it into law Friday.… Continue Reading

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