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US Vice President JD Vance said on Friday that the thousands of troops deployed to Los Angeles this month were still needed despite a week of relative calm in the protest-hit city.President Donald Trump has sent roughly 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines, purportedly to protect federal property and personnel, after demonstrations over immigration raids.”Unfortunately, the soldiers and Marines are still very much a necessary part of what’s going on here because they’re worried that it’s going to flare back up,” Vance told reporters in Los Angeles.He was speaking the day after an appeals court ruled that Trump could continue to control the California National Guard, which would normally fall under Governor Gavin Newsom’s authority.California officials have heavily criticized Trump over his use of the military, saying it escalated protests that local law enforcement could have handled.The demonstrations were largely peaceful and mostly contained to a small part of Los Angeles, the second-largest US city, although there were instances of violence and vandalism. “If you let violent rioters burn Great American Cities to the ground, then, of course, we’re going to send federal law enforcement in to protect the people the president was elected to protect,” Vance said, adding that Trump would deploy them again if needed.The Republican further accused Newsom — a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 — and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging protesters.Newsom and Bass have both condemned rioting and violence towards law enforcement while accusing the Trump administration of manufacturing a crisis in the city.Bass hit back at Vance during a news conference on Friday, accusing him of openly lying and saying that local law enforcement agencies handled crowd control. “How dare you say that city officials encourage violence. We kept the peace. You know that the federal officials that were here protected a federal building — they were not involved in crowd control,” she said. Bass said that even when there was vandalism, at its height “you are talking about a couple of hundred people who are not necessarily associated with any of the peaceful protests.” “Los Angeles is a city that is 500 square miles and any of the disruption that took place took place at about 2 square miles in our city,” she said, accusing Vance of adding to “provocation” and sowing “division.”- ‘Jose Padilla’ -Many in Los Angeles are angry about immigration raids carried out as part of Trump’s ambition to deport vast numbers of undocumented migrants around the country.Outrage at the use of masked, armed immigration agents also sparked protests in other cities, including San Francisco, New York, Chicago and San Antonio, Texas.Tensions spiked when California Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat, was handcuffed and forcibly removed last week when attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem questions during her news conference. Vance misnamed the senator when referring to the incident, saying: “I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater.”Bass reacted to the comment with outrage.”How dare you disrespect him and call him Jose. But I guess he just looked like anybody to you,” she said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had said Padilla’s treatment “reeks of totalitarianism,” while the White House claimed — despite video evidence to the contrary — that Padilla had “lunged toward Secretary Noem.”

US President Donald Trump took credit Friday for a peace deal negotiated in Washington between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda — and complained that he would not get a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.The warring African nations said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they had initialed an agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern DRC — to be formally signed in the US capital next week.”This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World!” Trump said in a Truth Social post confirming the breakthrough.But his triumphant tone darkened as he complained that he had been overlooked by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his mediating role in conflicts between India and Pakistan, as well as Serbia and Kosovo.He also demanded credit for “keeping peace” between Egypt and Ethiopia and brokering the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements aiming to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab nations.Trump campaigned for office as a “peacemaker” who would use his negotiating skills to quickly end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, although both conflicts are still raging five months into his presidency.  Indian officials have denied that he had any role in its ceasefire with Pakistan.The government of Pakistan, meanwhile, said Friday it would formally recommend Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during the recent conflict.However, Trump’s claims for the Abraham Accords being able to “unify the Middle East” have yet to be realized, with war breaking out between Israel and Iran, and no end in sight to the conflict in Gaza.And critics say the Republican greatly exaggerated the significance of the 2020 Serbia-Kosovo agreements, which were statements of intent that were thin on details and quickly unraveled.The president said officials from DR Congo and Rwanda would be in Washington on Monday for the signing, although their joint statement said they would put pen to paper on June 27.The resource-rich eastern DRC, which borders Rwanda, has been plagued by violence for three decades, with a resurgence since the anti-government M23 armed group went on a renewed offensive at the end of 2021.The deal — which builds on a declaration of principles signed in April — was reached during three days of talks between the neighbors in Washington, according to their statement.Trump has received multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations from supporters and loyal lawmakers over the years.He has made no secret of his irritation at missing out on the prestigious award, bringing it up as recently as February during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Barack Obama won the prize soon after taking office in 2009, and Trump complained during his 2024 election campaign that his Democratic predecessor was not worthy of the honor.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, criticized for failing to comment on the US government’s immigration crackdown, on Friday committed $1 million toward assistance for families of immigrants “impacted by recent events in the region.”The reigning World Series champions have faced criticism for their response to an escalation in federal immigration sweeps that have targeted migrant workers in garment factories, car washes and other workplaces.Los Angeles has become ground zero of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement across the United States and the Dodgers have a heavily Latino fan base, with some claiming a sense of betrayal over the franchise’s failure to speak out against the ongoing raids.”What’s happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,” Dodgers president Stan Kasten said in a statement.”We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and uplift the communities of Greater Los Angeles.”The Dodgers said the funds would be used for “direct financial assistance” for the families.They added that in the coming days the team planned additional announcements with local community and labor organizations that are directly supporting youth and families with food insecurity, basic essentials and mental health services.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass welcomed the Dodgers’ involvement.“I want to thank the Dodgers for leading with this action to support the immigrant community of Los Angeles,” Bass said in a statement.”These last weeks have sent shockwaves of fear rippling through every neighborhood and have had a direct impact on our economy,” she said. “My message to all Angelenos is clear: We will stick together during this time and we will not turn our backs on one another — that’s what makes this the greatest city in the world.”Bass and other California officials have heavily criticized Trump over his use of the National Guard and a contingent of Marines, sent to purportedly protect federal property and personnel in Los Angeles after demonstrations over the immigration sweeps.An appeals court has ruled that Trump could continue to control the California National Guard, which would normally fall under Governor Gavin Newsom’s authority.The announcement comes a day after the Dodgers said they barred federal immigration agents from the team’s stadium parking lot as raids continued across America’s second-biggest city.The Department of Homeland Security later clarified that the agents at the venue were from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

After night fell on the outskirts of Los Angeles on Thursday, around 50 people clanged metal pots and blasted air horns outside a hotel in a noisy bedtime protest targeting US immigration agents.The “No Sleep For ICE” rally underscored growing anger at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a once obscure agency that has become the focal point of President Donald Trump’s migrant crackdown. “They terrorize our community the entire day. Why do they get a good night’s sleep?” said Nathanael Landaverde, 23, who banged a dismantled frying pan at the protest.Dramatic images have shown federal agents, often masked and sometimes armed with assault rifles, chasing down migrants and handcuffing them at courthouses, farms and on the streets.ICE officials have also detained some US citizens for allegedly intervening in arrests, including a mayoral candidate in New York this week. The heavy-handed approach has sparked fear among immigrants and infuriated many Americans, particularly in liberal cities such as Los Angeles, where large-scale street protests erupted this month over ICE raids.”If they don’t sleep they’re not gonna do their job effectively. They’re gonna get less people,” added Landaverde, as passing vehicles honked in apparent support for the late-night rally.It was not certain whether ICE agents were staying at the three-star hotel, but protest organizers claimed to have photo evidence.Dozens of people danced to a deafening cacophony as they waved signs reading “No rest for ICE” and “ICE out of LA” towards the hotel, where some guests peered through the curtains. One woman simply screamed into a megaphone. Another man wore earmuffs as he blasted distorted white noise through a speaker. “They’re ripping families apart, and it’s horrifying to watch in my community. They can’t sleep if they’re gonna do that here,” said Juliet Austin, 22, who was playing a small blue accordion.- ‘Secret police’ -Trump was elected to a second term in large part for his promise to deport thousands of migrants.But alongside their aggressive tactics, critics have denounced federal immigration agents for wearing face masks to hide their identities — a highly unusual but legal practice in US law enforcement.”At what point will we as a nation find ourselves with a secret police?” Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute think tank, wrote last month.  “For the Trump administration, turning masked raids into standard practice fits into a wider effort to dodge accountability for potentially illegal and unconstitutional actions,” he added.In California, lawmakers have introduced the “No Secret Police Act” that would restrict federal agents from wearing masks.Federal officials have rejected this criticism by claiming that agents wear masks to protect them from potential reprisals.Meanwhile, ICE has frequently boasted about its activities and posted pictures of detained migrants on social media. And it crucially still enjoys Trump’s support, who last weekend praised ICE agents’ “incredible strength, determination, and courage.”Still, anger over ICE looks unlikely to go away as long as immigration arrests continue, and protesters Thursday were adamant they would not back down.”I think it’s a modern Gestapo here in America,” said Austin, a dance teacher.”This city is not the one to mess with… We’re not gonna let it happen. We’re not tired,” she added.

A Venezuelan woman who went through hell to emigrate to America is going back to her troubled homeland, saying that living in fear is no life at all.Deisy — who declined to give her last name for safety concerns — will uproot her three children, sever all the links she made in America and brave the economic misery and other turmoil she fled in the first place.That’s how terrified she is, every day, all day, of being scooped up in one of the raids the Trump administration is carrying out in its relentless crackdown on people without papers.”What I thought was a dream has turned into a nightmare,” said Deisy. “The situation is total chaos. Who wants to be arrested in a country that is not theirs?”Trump was elected last year in large part on his pledge of a historic wave of deportations, and he is delivering.Any day now, transplanted Chicago resident Deisy, 37, and her kids will join the growing number of people deporting themselves to avoid falling into the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.In recent months ICE agents have stepped up arrests and the targets have included 252 Venezuelans who were sent handcuffed to a notorious prison in El Salvador without court hearings, on allegations they belong to a powerful Latino crime gang called Tren de Aragua.The detainees, their lawyers and advocacy groups insist the men have no ties to that organization.- Peace of mind ‘priceless’ -Deisy arrived in the United States in 2019 after an arduous trip from Panama, where she had emigrated six years earlier to find work.In her hometown of Maracay in the north of Venezuela, she could not make a living so she made the heartbreaking decision to leave her children with her mother and set out in search of a better life for all of them.After crossing the border with Mexico on foot, she turned herself in to the US authorities and was released with the obligation to appear later in immigration court.Her first taste of Chicago was grueling. She had little money, spoke no English and had no papers. But she stuck it out.In order to live and send money back home, she worked in construction — demolition, to be exact — and drove an Uber.Life back home seemed like a much worse alternative, as is the case for many migrants in the United States. The United Nations says nearly eight million people have left Venezuela in the past decade because of an economic meltdown in the once prosperous, oil-rich country, which suffers from acute shortages of food, medicine and other basic needs. And President Nicolas Maduro is accused of acting like a repressive leftist dictator who tolerates no dissent and steals elections.Now, what Deisy fears is not leaving but staying.Not long ago the immigration authorities picked up a work colleague whose status is the same as hers — living in the US with an asylum request pending.The Trump administration has pledged to revoke a special temporary status that Joe Biden’s administration granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans that shielded them from deportation.They include Deisy’s children, who joined her in 2022, and her husband, a Venezuelan she met in the United States.”We live in fear that we will be stopped on the street,” Deisy said. “We don’t want to be deported to a jail with criminals, where they treat us all as if we were members of Tren de Aragua.”Going home is not easy. Besides uprooting the family, Deisy has to pay for the trip and deal with messy paperwork. For instance, many Venezuelans have had their passports seized by US authorities.After considering several options she has decided to fly with a travel agency that specializes in people like her, Venezuelans going home. It is running 60 flights a month — 70 percent more than before Trump was inaugurated.”Life in Venezuela is rough, but my husband and I do not seek to be rich. And I think I prefer peace and quiet, the stability of being at home,” said Deisy. “For us, peace of mind is priceless.”

Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide pro-Palestinian campus protests, was released Friday from a federal detention center.Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, has been in custody since March facing potential deportation.”This shouldn’t have taken three months,” Khalil, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, told US media outside an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana hours after a federal judge ordered his release.”(President Donald) Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this,” he said. “There’s no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide.”The Department of Homeland Security criticized District Judge Michael Farbiarz’s ruling Friday as an example of how “out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining our national security.”Under the terms of his release, Khalil will not be allowed to leave the United States except for “self-deportation,” and faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country.Khalil’s wife, Michigan-born dentist Noor Abdalla, said her family could now “finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Maumoud is on his way home.””We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” added Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple’s first child while her husband was in detention.- Visas revoked -Since his March 8 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Khalil has become a symbol of Trump’s campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian student activism against the Gaza war, in the name of curbing anti-Semitism.At the time a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, Khalil was a prominent leader of nationwide campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.Following his arrest, US authorities transferred Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from his home in New York to the detention center in Louisiana, pending deportation.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy.Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review.Hundreds of students have seen their visas revoked, with some saying they were targeted for everything from writing opinion articles to minor arrest records.Farbiarz ruled last week that the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on Rubio’s assertions that his presence on US soil poses a national security threat.The government has also alleged as grounds to detain and deport Khalil that there were inaccuracies in his application for permanent residency.Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is among the groups representing Khalil, welcomed the release order.”This is an important step in vindicating Mr Khalil’s rights as he continues to be unlawfully targeted by the federal government for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights,” Sinha said. 

A federal judge on Friday indefinitely paused Donald Trump’s bid to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students as the US president said a “deal” with the Ivy League school was in the works.The order by District Judge Allison Burroughs will allow international students to continue to attend the elite universtity while a lawsuit filed by Harvard plays out in the courts.Trump, who has cut federal grants for Harvard and tried a host of different tactics to block the institution from hosting international students, said that his administration has been holding negotiations with Harvard.”Many people have been asking what is going on with Harvard University and their largescale improprieties that we have been addressing, looking for a solution,” Trump said in a post Friday on Truth Social.”We have been working closely with Harvard, and it is very possible that a Deal will be announced over the next week or so,” he said. “If a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be ‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC, and very good for our Country.”Trump did not provide any details about the purported “deal.”The Trump administration has sought to remove Harvard from an electronic student immigration registry and instructed embassies to deny visas to international students hoping to attend the Massachusetts-based university.Harvard has sued the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to block the efforts, arguing that they were illegal and unconstitutional.Harvard previously secured two temporary restraining orders from Burroughs against the government’s move to bar international students, and the judge extended it with a preliminary injunction on Friday.International students accounted for 27 percent of total enrollment at Harvard in the 2024-2025 academic year and are a major source of income.In court filings, Harvard argued that Trump’s actions were “retribution for Harvard’s exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”Alongside the campaign against foreign students, the Trump administration has also cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting the university and pledged to exclude it from any future federal funding.Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.”Trump and his allies claim that Harvard and other prestigious universities are unaccountable bastions of liberal, anti-conservative bias and anti-Semitism.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday ordered mass layoffs at Voice of America and other government-funded media, moving ahead with gutting the outlets despite legal disputes and criticism that US adversaries will benefit.Kari Lake, a fervent Trump supporter named to a senior role at the US Agency for Global Media, said the notices were a “long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.”Lake said in a statement that she would work with the State Department and Congress to “make sure the telling of America’s story is modernized, effective and aligned with America’s foreign policy.”Trump issued an order in March that froze Voice of America (VOA) for the first time since it was founded in 1942.Termination notices were sent to 639 employees on Friday, after previous offers of voluntary departures and dismissals of contractors.Some 1,400 positions have been eliminated, with only 250 remaining, Lake said.Voice of America layoffs included journalists from its Persian service who had briefly been brought back to work after Israel attacked Iran a week ago.Employees have filed a lawsuit challenging Lake’s actions, which come even though Congress had already appropriated funding.The mass firing decision “spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds the US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,” the three plaintiffs wrote in a statement.”Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and extremist groups are flooding the information space with anti-American propaganda. Do not cede this ground by silencing America’s voice,” said the three complainants, Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper.Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the “decimation of US broadcasting leaves authoritarian propaganda unchecked by US backed independent media and is a perversion of the law and congressional intent.””It is a dark day for the truth,” she wrote on X.Trump frequently attacks media outlets and has scoffed at the so-called editorial firewall at VOA which prevents the government from intervening in its coverage, something he at times has considered too critical of his administration.One outlet preserved by the mass cuts has been Radio Marti, which broadcasts into Cuba and enjoys support from anti-communist Cuban-American Republican lawmakers.Other outlets funded by the US government have included Radio Free Asia, which was set up to provide news to Asian countries without a free press and is now operating in a limited capacity.Radio Free Europe, formed with a similar mission for Soviet bloc nations during the Cold War, has survived thanks to support from the Czech government.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to release Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who became a leader of pro-Palestinian campus protests.Khalil, a legal permanent US resident who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, has been in custody since March facing potential deportation.District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil’s release on bail during a hearing on Friday and he will be allowed to return to New York while his deportation case proceeds.”After more than three months, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home,” his wife, Michigan-born dentist Noor Abdalla, said in a statement.”We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” added Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple’s first child while her husband was in detention.Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is among the groups representing Khalil, welcomed the release order.”This is an important step in vindicating Mr Khalil’s rights as he continues to be unlawfully targeted by the federal government for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights,” Sinha said. “We’re confident he will ultimately prevail in the fight for his freedom.”Since his March 8 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Khalil has become a symbol of President Donald Trump’s campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian student activism against the Gaza war, in the name of curbing anti-Semitism.At the time a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, Khalil was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.Following his arrest, US authorities transferred Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from his home in New York to a detention center in Louisiana, pending deportation.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy.Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review.Hundreds of students have seen their visas revoked, with some saying they were targeted for everything from writing opinion articles to minor arrest records.Farbiarz ruled last week that the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on Rubio’s assertions that his presence on US soil poses a national security threat.The government has also alleged as grounds to detain and deport Khalil that there were inaccuracies in his application for permanent residency.

The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Friday for American victims of attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank to sue Palestinian authorities for damages in US courts.The court issued a unanimous 9-0 decision in a long-running case involving the jurisdiction of US federal courts to hear lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).Americans killed or injured in attacks in Israel or the West Bank or their relatives have filed a number of suits seeking damages.In one 2015 case, a jury awarded $655 million in damages and interest to US victims of attacks which took place in the early 2000s.Appeals courts had dismissed the suits on jurisdiction grounds.Congress passed a law in 2019 — the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA) — that would make the PLO and PA subject to US jurisdiction if they were found to have made payments to the relatives of persons who killed or injured Americans.Two lower courts ruled that the 2019 law was a violation of the due process rights of the Palestinian authorities under the US Constitution but the Supreme Court ruled on Friday to uphold it.”The PSJVTA reasonably ties the assertion of federal jurisdiction over the PLO and PA to conduct that involves the United States and implicates sensitive foreign policy matters within the prerogative of the political branches,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.The PA announced in February that it would end its system of payments to the families of those killed by Israel or held in Israeli prisons, responding to a long-standing request from Washington.In 2018, during his first term as US president, Donald Trump signed into law rules suspending financial assistance to the PA as long as it continued to pay benefits to Palestinians linked to “terrorist” entities, according to the criteria of the Israeli authorities.