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U.S. Court Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Use Alien Enemies Act Against Venezuelans
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court declared that President Donald Trump acted unlawfully when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act to try to deport Venezuelans, whom he claimed were members of a criminal gang.
In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the Trump administration from removing a group of Venezuelans under the seldom-used 18th-century law.
The Fifth Circuit is the first federal appeals court to rule directly on a March 14 presidential proclamation invoking the 1798 law to justify rapid deportations.
Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick, writing for the two-judge majority, rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had engaged in a “predatory incursion” on U.S. soil.
The Act gives the government expansive powers to detain and deport citizens of hostile foreign nations, but only in times of war, or during an “invasion or predatory incursion.”
Southwick was appointed by former President George W. Bush. He was joined by Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, an appointee of President Joe Biden.
Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, dissented.
The Trump administration could ask the entire 5th Circuit to rehear the case. It is expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court.
“The Trump administration’s use of a wartime statute during peacetime to regulate immigration was rightly shut down by the court,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who represented the Venezuelans.
“This is a critically important decision reining in the administration’s view that it can simply declare an emergency without any oversight by the courts.”
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
1798 Law
The case before the 5th Circuit was brought by a group of alleged Tren de Aragua members being held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas. The ACLU, which represents the men, has disputed the claims of gang membership.
In his March 14 proclamation, Trump said he would use the 1798 law to swiftly detain and deport members of Tren de Aragua. Trump asserted that the gang is a state-sponsored international terrorist organization that has invaded United States territory.
The Supreme Court ruled in April that challenges to removal under the law must be brought in the federal judicial districts where detainees are being held.
The court said it was not resolving the validity of the administration’s reliance on that law to carry out the deportations.
Since then, challenges to the president’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act have been unfolding in courts across the country, and several judges have blocked deportations under the law within their judicial districts.
The case before the 5th Circuit briefly reached the Supreme Court in May.
In an order, the high court granted a request by the organization that removals be halted while the case unfolds. The court also faulted the Trump administration attempting to swiftly remove the detainees just one day after providing them with deportation notices.
“Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” the order stated.
Two conservative justices — Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented from the May ruling.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump To Host Poland’s President Nawrocki At White House For Talks On Ukraine And Energy
U.S. President Donald Trump will host Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House on Wednesday, following his support for the conservative nationalist during Poland’s recent elections. The discussions are expected to center on Russia’s war in Ukraine and broader energy security concerns.
Trump extended the invitation days after Nawrocki was sworn in early in August and then intervened to ensure he joined a key telephone call on Ukraine with European leaders instead of his rival, centrist Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The president hosted Nawrocki at the White House in May, backing him at a crucial moment in the Polish election. Nawrocki went on to defeat the candidate of Tusk’s pro-European, centrist party a month later.
Talks On Ukraine War, Security Concerns
Wednesday’s talks are expected to center on stalled negotiations to end the war and Poland’s security concerns, amid signs that Trump has grown frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin for failing to move forward on ending the war.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin, adding that his administration planned some action to bring down deaths in the war.
He will greet Nawrocki at the White House at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) with the two leaders to meet first in the Oval Office before a private lunch, the White House said. Poland, a member of NATO, borders both Russia and war-torn Ukraine.
Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Nawrocki would urge Trump to stand firm against Putin and refrain from reducing U.S. troops in Poland.
“From the Polish side, it’s clear what the message will be, and that is, ‘Don’t get played by Putin, stand up to him and we need a united transatlantic position if we’re going to get an end to the war in Russia,'” Kupchan said.
Nawrocki was also expected to push for an increased U.S. commitment to Polish security and more troops but that could be a tough sell at a time when the U.S. military’s force structure review was likely to recommend fewer troops in Europe, he added.
The U.S. military presence on NATO’s eastern flank, including Poland, remains one of the key issues for Warsaw, which is seeking assurances of continued support.
“The success of his (Nawrocki’s) special relationship with the MAGA movement and with President Trump would be if the United States increased its presence in Poland,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told journalists on Tuesday.
More Weapons
Trump has long been supportive of Poland, lauding its leadership in boosting military spending and acknowledging its geographic position in “a tough neighbourhood.”
But experts say he will be looking for Warsaw to buy even more U.S. weapons for its own use and to send to Ukraine.
Poland is a big buyer of U.S. arms, such as M1A2 Abrams tanks, F-35 fighter jets, AH-64 Apache helicopters, Javelin missiles and HIMARS rocket launchers. In June, Washington said it would give Poland a $4-billion loan guarantee to buy more.
“Trump is, broadly speaking, much more transactional than ideological, even though he will show some affinity for the politics of a right-wing Polish president,” Kupchan said.
Increased arms purchases and potential joint ventures to expand Ukraine’s defence industrial base offered a “sweet spot,” he added.
The meeting also offers a chance for the U.S. to renew its engagement in the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), launched in 2015 to boost energy, transport and digital infrastructure between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas.
Trump attended its second summit in Warsaw in 2017.
The former U.S. ambassador to Poland, Paul Jones, said in an essay published by the German Marshall Fund this week that U.S. participation in 3SI could bring more U.S. energy and technology sales in the region, a goal of Trump’s America First policy.
A strong partnership between the U.S. and the 3SI countries was also likely to curb China’s influence there, he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
North Korea’s Heir? Kim’s Daughter Steps Onto World Stage
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made headlines this week by bringing his teenage daughter to Beijing — her first public appearance abroad — sparking renewed speculation about her possible role as his future successor in the family’s dynastic rule over the nuclear-armed nation.
Secretive North Korea has never revealed her name or age, but South Korean intelligence officials believe she is the daughter identified as Ju Ae by former American basketball player Dennis Rodman. Rodman spent time with Kim’s family in 2013 and described holding her as a baby.
Gathering Experience
She was seen just behind her father as they stepped off the armoured train they used to travel overnight from Pyongyang to the Chinese capital Beijing, where Kim Jong Un attended a massive military parade on Wednesday staged by China to commemorate Japan’s surrender ending World War Two in the Pacific.
“Right now, Ju Ae is the front runner as next supreme leader of North Korea,” said Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the US-based Stimson Center. “She is getting practical protocol experience which should serve her well as North Korea’s next leader or a core elite.”
It is the first time she has accompanied Kim Jong Un outside North Korea – an experience that neither her father nor powerful aunt ever had, Madden said.
“She is getting valuable experience greeting and interacting with foreign leadership and other elites,” he said.
Limited Information
Analysts said there is no evidence Kim Jong Un ever accompanied his father, Kim Jong Il, on overseas trips. Jong Il did make foreign trips in the 1950s with his father, North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung.
North Korea’s tightly controlled state media had revealed nothing about Kim Jong Un’s children until Ju Ae was first shown to the world accompanying her father to the launch of a massive intercontinental ballistic missile in 2022.
There is still little known about other Kim children.
Increasing Appearances
South Korea’s intelligence agency considers Ju Ae to be the most likely successor so far, despite questions over whether she can ultimately rise to the top of the male-dominated dynasty.
Estimated to be about 13 years old, Ju Ae has attended increasingly high-profile events, including her diplomatic debut at a Russian Embassy event in May.
“The scope of her public appearances certainly has expanded from military-related sites to political and economic events over the years,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, another researcher with the Stimson Center. “If this is part of a succession campaign, this would certainly help with that effort as it would be seen as Kim Ju Ae’s debut on the international stage.”
While it’s premature to say conclusively whether this visit means she is Kim Jong Un’s successor, it could still help broaden her horizons, said Lee, adding that how the North Korean media covers Ju Ae in China would give better insight.
(With inputs from Reuters)
EU Moves To Finalise Historic Mercosur Agreement
The European Union is expected to formally present a long-awaited trade agreement with South America’s Mercosur bloc on Wednesday, with the European Commission set to propose the deal for approval by the EU Parliament and member states.
Mercosur will remove duties on 91% of EU exports, including for cars from a current 35% over a period of 15 years. The EU will progressively remove duties on 92% of Mercosur exports over a period of up to 10 years.
Mercosur will also remove duties on EU agriculture-based products, such as the 17% on wines and 20-35% on spirits.
For more sensitive farm products, the EU will offer increased quotas, including 99,000 metric tons more beef, while Mercosur will give the EU a duty-free 30,000-ton quota for cheeses.
There are also EU quotas for poultry, pork, sugar, ethanol, rice, honey, maize and sweet corn and for Mercosur on milk powders and infant formula.
Further, the deal recognizes 350 geographic indications to prevent imitation of certain traditional EU foodstuffs such as Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Alternative Routes
The Commission and proponents like Germany and Spain say the deal offers a route away from reliance on China, especially for critical minerals, and relief from the impact of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Commission says the free trade agreement is the largest it has ever agreed in terms of tariff reductions, removing over 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) of duties on EU exports annually, and a necessary part of the EU’s push to diversify its trade ties.
Early-Mover Advantage
The EU says that given Mercosur’s modest collection of trade agreements, the EU would have an early-mover advantage and notes that EU companies will be able to bid for public contracts in Mercosur on the same terms as local suppliers – something Mercosur has not previously offered in trade agreements.
The EU also sees Mercosur as a reliable partner as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China for critical minerals, such as battery metal lithium. The agreement will ensure there are no taxes on the export of most such materials.
Proponents say the extra beef represents just 1.6% of EU beef consumption and poultry 1.4% and point to existing imports, such as 200,000 tons of beef per year, as proof that Mercosur does meet EU standards.
There are also potential safeguard measures to address possible market disturbances.
‘Climate-Wrecking’
Friends of the Earth has called the deal “climate-wrecking”, saying it would lead to increased deforestation as Mercosur countries would sell more farm produce and raw materials, often sourced from forested areas, including the Amazon, with dire consequences for the environment and human rights.
Potential Block
France, with a large beef sector that could be threatened by increased imports, has said it will sign the free trade agreement only if it “safeguards the interests” of French and EU agriculture.
Italy and Poland have also expressed opposition. Together, the three countries could block the deal.
European Farmers Unhappy
European farmers have repeatedly protested that a deal would lead to cheap imports of commodities, notably beef, that do not meet the EU’s green and food safety standards. The European Commission says the EU’s standards will not be relaxed.
The deal does include commitments on the environment, including to prevent further deforestation after 2030. However, green groups say it lacks enforceable measures.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Big Tech Scores As Google Keeps Chrome, Android
In a partial victory for Big Tech, a Washington judge on Tuesday ruled that Google won’t be required to sell its Chrome browser — but ordered the tech giant to share search-related data with competitors to promote fair competition in the online search market.
Google parent Alphabet’s shares were up 7.2% in extended trading on Tuesday as investors cheered the judge’s ruling, which also allows Google to keep making lucrative payments to Apple that antitrust enforcers said froze out search rivals. Apple shares rose 3%.
US District Judge Amit Mehta also ruled Google could keep its Android operating system, which together with Chrome help drive Google’s market-dominating online advertising business.
5-Year Legal Battle
The ruling results from a five-year legal battle between one of the world’s most profitable companies and the US, where antitrust regulators and lawmakers have long questioned Big Tech’s market domination. Mehta ruled last year that Google holds an illegal monopoly in online search and related advertising.
But the judge approached the job of imposing remedies on Google with “humility,” he wrote, pointing to competition created by artificial intelligence companies since the case began.
“Here the court is asked to gaze into a crystal ball and look to the future. Not exactly a judge’s forte,” Mehta wrote.
While sharing data with competitors will strengthen rivals to Google’s advertising business, not having to sell off Chrome or Android removes a major concern for investors who view them as key pieces to Google’s overall business.
Major Threat
Google faces a major threat from increasingly popular AI tools including OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot, which are already eroding Google’s dominance. If allowed to access the data Google is required to share, AI companies could bolster their development of chatbots and, in some cases, AI search engines and web browsers.
“The money flowing into this space, and how quickly it has arrived, is astonishing,” Mehta wrote, saying AI companies are already better placed to compete with Google than any search engine developer has been in decades.
Deepak Mathivanan, an analyst for Cantor Fitzgerald, said the data-sharing requirements pose a competitive risk to Google but not right away.
“It will take a longer period of time for consumers to also embrace these new experiences,” he said.
Next Steps
US antitrust enforcers are considering their next steps, Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater said on X.
Google said in a blog post it was worried data sharing “will impact our users and their privacy, and we’re reviewing the decision closely.”
Google has said previously that it plans to file an appeal, which means it could take years before the company is required to act on the ruling. The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.
“Judge Mehta is aware that the Supreme Court is the likely final destination for the case, and he has chosen remedies that stand a good chance of acceptance by the Court,” said William Kovacic, director of the competition law center at George Washington University.
Billions In Payments
The ruling was also a relief for Apple and other device and Web browser makers, whom Mehta said can continue to receive advertising revenue-sharing payments from Google for searches on their devices. Google pays Apple $20 billion annually, Morgan Stanley analysts said last year.
Banning the payments is even less necessary amid the rise of AI, Mehta wrote, where products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT “pose a threat to the primacy of traditional internet search”.
The ruling also made it easier for device makers and others who set Google search as a default to load apps created by Google’s rivals, by barring Google from entering exclusive contracts.
Google itself had proposed loosening those agreements, and its most recent deals with device makers Samsung Electronics and Motorola and wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon allow them to load rival search offerings.
Big Tech Crackdown
In addition to the case over search, Google is embroiled in litigation over its dominance in other markets.
The company recently said it will continue to fight a ruling requiring it to revamp its app store in a lawsuit won by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
And Google is scheduled to go to trial later this month to determine remedies in a separate case brought by the Justice Department where a judge found the company holds illegal monopolies in online advertising technology.
The Justice Department’s two cases against Google are part of a larger bipartisan crackdown by the US on Big Tech firms, which began during President Donald Trump’s first term and includes cases against Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple.
(With inputs from Reuters)
US Kills 11 In Strike On Alleged Venezuelan Drug Boat, Trump Confirms
The US military on Tuesday killed 11 people in a strike on a Venezuela-linked vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs, marking the first reported operation since President Donald Trump’s recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
“We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“And there’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time … These came out of Venezuela.”
Tren de Aragua Members Killed
He later shared a video on his Truth Social platform that appeared to show footage from overhead drones of a speedboat at sea exploding and then on fire.
“The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this strike,” Trump said.
He added that the US military had identified the crew as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the US designated a terrorist group in February. He repeated allegations that Tren de Aragua is being controlled by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, accusations that Caracas denies.
AI Made?
Venezuela’s Communications Minister, Freddy Nanez, suggested in a post on social media that the video shared by Trump was created with artificial intelligence.
Reuters conducted initial checks on the video, including a review of its visual elements using a manipulation detection tool which did not show evidence of manipulation. However, thorough verification is an ongoing process, and Reuters will continue to review the footage as more information becomes available.
The Pentagon has not released specifics about the attack, including what kind of drugs were on board, the quantity, or how the strike was carried out.
Unusual Tactic
The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel passing through the Caribbean, instead of seizing the vessel and apprehending its crew, is highly unusual and evokes memories of the US fight against militant groups like al Qaeda.
“‘Being suspected of carrying drugs’ doesn’t carry a death sentence,” said Adam Isacson, Director for Defence Oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, in a post on X.
Southern Caribbean Deployment
The United States has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks with the aim of following through on a pledge by Trump to crack down on drug cartels.
Tuesday’s strike appeared to be the first such military operation in the region to that effect.
Seven US warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
While US Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, the current buildup exceeds the usual deployments in the region.
In the naval force are warships, including USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale. Some can carry aerial assets like helicopters while others can also deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The US military has also been flying P-8 spy planes in the region to gather intelligence, US officials have said. They have been flying over international waters.
Rubio’s Warning
Speaking to reporters, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “These particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean.”
“Suffice it to say that the president is going to be on offence against drug cartels and drug trafficking in the United States.”
Trump’s singling out of Maduro has raised alarms in Caracas that their government might be the real target.
Last month, the United States doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.
Venezuelan officials have repeatedly said that Tren de Aragua is no longer active in their country after they dismantled it during a prison raid in 2023.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Xi Warns World At Crossroads As China Stages Historic Military Parade
Chinese President Xi Jinping, flanked by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, opened the country’s largest-ever military parade with a stark message: the world now stands at a crossroads between peace and war.
The Tiananmen Square event to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War Two, has been largely shunned by western leaders with Putin and Kim – pariahs in the west due to the Ukraine war – the guests of honour.
‘Win-Win Or Zero-Sum’
Designed to project China’s military might and diplomatic clout, it also comes as US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and volatile policymaking strain its relations with allies and rivals alike.
“Today, mankind is faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum,” Xi told a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators, adding that the Chinese people “firmly stand on the right side of history”.
Wearing a suit in the style of those worn by former leader Mao Zedong, Xi earlier greeted the more than 20 leaders saying “Nice to meet you” and “Welcome to China” in English. Indonesia’s president, facing widespread protests at home, made a surprise appearance.
Trump’s Swipe
“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social as the parade kicked off.
Trump had earlier told reporters he did not see the parade as a challenge to the United States and reiterated his “very good relationship” with Xi.
The 70-minute showcase featured aerial displays, marching troops as well as cutting-edge military equipment such as hypersonic missiles, unmanned drones and outfitted tanks. Xi will review the troops lined up in formation before delivering a keynote speech.
Major roads and schools have been closed in Beijing for the parade, the culmination of weeks of painstaking security preparations and midnight rehearsals.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Thousands Of Israeli Reservists Report For Duty Amid Military Chief’s Clash With Ministers
Tens of thousands of reservists on Tuesday began reporting for duty ahead of a new Israeli offensive in Gaza City, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to accelerate despite senior officials’ warnings.
Israeli Army Radio said that some 40,000 reservists would report for duty on Tuesday for the Gaza City offensive. The military said it was readying logistically for the intake of reservists ahead of the offensive.
Israel’s security cabinet, chaired by Netanyahu, approved a plan last month to expand the campaign in Gaza with the aim of taking Gaza City, where Israeli forces waged fierce urban warfare with Hamas in the early stages of the war. Israel currently holds about 75% of the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu Clashes With Ministers
A security cabinet meeting late on Sunday included angry exchanges between Netanyahu and his ministers, who want to push ahead with the Gaza City offensive, and military chief Eyal Zamir, who has urged the politicians to reach a ceasefire deal.
Zamir said the campaign will endanger hostages and put further strain on the already overstretched army, according to four ministers and two military officials present at the meeting.
This follows previous tense exchanges between Zamir and Netanyahu’s cabinet. Netanyahu said on August 20 that he gave instructions to speed up the timetable to take Gaza City, but the next day the military warned against hostages being endangered and said it could not begin the campaign for two months, according to a source in Netanyahu’s circle and a defence official.
The military’s main reason was that more time was needed for humanitarian efforts. But surveys have shown a proportion of reservists are unhappy with the cabinet’s plans, with some having taken the unusual step of openly accusing the government of lacking a cohesive strategy, a post-war plan for Gaza or clear victory metrics.
“I don’t feel like I’m doing anything that really applies significant pressure to have Hamas release the hostages,” one combat reservist who has been serving in Gaza since October 7 told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly.
Israeli Strikes
At least 86 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, and scores more were wounded in the past 24 hours, local health authorities said.
Three separate airstrikes killed 26 people in total in houses in the Gaza City suburbs, where the Israeli forces stepped up aerial and ground bombardment in preparation for expanding the fighting.
Outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, white plastic body bags with corpses were laid out on the street, spattered with blood. Crowds wailed for slain relatives.
“We fled (our homes) with nothing. They went to get clothes and food from their homes, to bring clothes for their children and food for themselves… and Look now! They came back as martyrs!” said Nasr Nasr, a relative of some of the dead.
Hundreds of mourners carried bodies through the streets. Others stood and prayed around a group of five bodies in shrouds, including three tiny children.
The Israeli army’s Arabic service spokesperson told residents of Gaza there would be better humanitarian services in the south, as the army prepared to expand the Gaza City offensive.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it has stated that its forces are combating fighters on the outskirts of Gaza City, destroying tunnels and militant infrastructure and seizing weapons.
More Deaths Reported
Other deaths reported on Tuesday included five people killed while waiting in a food line in the south, nine killed in a strike on an apartment, and seven killed by Israeli tank fire.
Thirteen more Palestinians, including three children, died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday, raising officially reported deaths from such causes to at least 361, including 130 children, the vast majority in recent weeks.
Israel disputes the hunger fatality figures given by the health ministry of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, arguing that deaths were due to other medical causes.
Deadly War
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities near the border, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, including children, into Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Over 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza since then, according to Gaza health officials, who do not say how many were militants but have said most of those killed have been women and children.
Ceasefire talks that would see a pause in the fighting ended in a deadlock in July.
Israeli authorities believe that of the 48 remaining captives, 20 hostages are still alive.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump’s Use Of Troops In LA Violates Federal Law, Rules Judge
A federal judge on Tuesday barred US President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the military to tackle crime in California, even as the Republican leader threatens to send troops to other American cities like Chicago.
San Francisco-based US District Judge Charles Breyer found that the Trump administration violated a law known as the Posse Comitatus Act with its June deployment of 4,000 National Guard and 700 active-duty US Marines to Los Angeles. The law sharply limits the use of federal troops for domestic enforcement.
Setback
The decision dealt a setback to Trump’s push to expand the role of the military on US soil, which critics say is a dangerous expansion of executive authority that could spark tensions between troops and ordinary citizens.
Breyer put the ruling on hold until September 12. The Trump administration is likely to appeal.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly called Breyer a “rogue judge” and said the military deployment had saved Los Angeles from “mass chaos.”
“The president is committed to protecting law-abiding citizens, and this will not be the final say on the issue,” Kelly said in an emailed statement.
The injunction applies only to the military in California, not nationally.
Countering Trump’s Arguments
But the judge said that Trump’s stated desire to send troops to Chicago and other cities provided support for his ruling, noting that the president said at an August 27 cabinet meeting that he had the right to “do anything I want to do … if I think our country is in danger.”
Trump has said the troops were needed in Los Angeles to protect federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement, after large-scale immigration raids triggered protests.
“There is no question that federal personnel should be able to perform their jobs without fearing for their safety,” wrote Breyer, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton and is the brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
“But to use this as a hook to send military troops alongside federal agents wherever they go proves too much and would frustrate the very purpose of the Posse Comitatus Act.”
Newsom’s Tweet
The Los Angeles deployment drew wide condemnation from Democrats, who said Trump was using the military to stifle opposition to his hardline immigration policies.
“The people of California won much needed accountability against Trump’s ILLEGAL militarization of an American city!” California Governor Gavin Newsom, a prominent Democrat who brought the lawsuit, wrote on X on Tuesday.
Trump has since deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., a federal district where Trump wields exceptional power, and said he may send troops to Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city.
The Republican president has cited crime rates to justify the need for federal troops. Washington and Chicago, like many places across the US, experienced crime spikes in the wake of the pandemic, but crime is on a declining trend in both cities.
‘Unprecedented Shift’
At a three-day trial last month, lawyers from the California attorney general’s office tried to show that the troops had performed police functions — including setting up security perimeters and detaining two people — and were not needed in the first place.
They warned that a ruling for the Trump administration would “usher in a vast and unprecedented shift in the role of the military in our society.”
The Trump administration countered that the US Constitution permits presidents to use troops to protect federal personnel and property as an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act. The administration’s lawyers tried to show that the troops only acted to protect federal agents from perceived threats and stayed within their legal limits.
The administration still had several hundred soldiers in Los Angeles when the trial took place, although the protests had long died down. The troops were used for security during raids on marijuana farms outside the city and as a show of force to deter protests at a popular park during an operation by immigration agents, according to evidence shown at trial.
About 300 National Guard troops remain deployed to Los Angeles, and the Trump administration has said they would stay there at least until November.
(With inputs from Reuters)
New Quake Strikes Southeastern Afghanistan As Death Toll Surpasses 1,400
A 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, raising fears of additional destruction just two days after a major quake in the same region killed over 1,400 and injured thousands.
Tuesday’s quake occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), the same level as the one that struck at midnight on Sunday with a magnitude of 6. That was one of Afghanistan’s worst quakes in years, flattening houses in remote villages.
The aftershock caused panic and halted rescue efforts as it sent rocks sliding down mountains, cutting off roads further and making it dangerous to dig through rubble, said Safiullah Noorzai, who works with Aseel, a humanitarian tech platform with networks around Afghanistan.
Noorzai, whose organisation has sent teams to the mountainous region, said more people had been injured, likely pushing the death toll higher.
The difficult terrain has hindered rescue workers’ relief efforts in the isolated villages.
A Reuters journalist who reached the area on Tuesday, before the latest tremors, saw that every home had been damaged or destroyed, with locals still digging through the rubble for survivors. A lot of people were still trapped. Some partially damaged homes were destroyed by the second earthquake, according to residents.
Death Toll Crosses 1,400
At least 1,411 people are known to have died so far, 3,124 have been injured, and more than 5,400 houses destroyed, Taliban administration spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The U.N. coordinator in Afghanistan said the death toll was sure to rise further.
Aid group Save the Children called on the international community to urgently release emergency funds. The earthquake has disrupted sources of clean water, raising fears of disease, and restricted access to food, it said.
“This is now a race against time to save lives – to get injured people out of remote villages cut off by massive rock falls and to get clean water, food, and shelter in,” said Samira Sayed Rahman, Programmes and Advocacy Director at Save the Children.
Quake-Prone Region
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
The eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar were worst hit in Sunday night’s earthquake.
On Tuesday, a line of ambulances was on the damaged mountain road trying to reach Kunar villages, as helicopters flew in, bringing aid supplies and taking the injured to hospitals, according to a Reuters reporter.
Thousands of children were at risk, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned on Tuesday.
UNICEF said it was sending medicines, warm clothing, tents and tarpaulins for shelter, and hygiene items such as soap, detergent, towels, sanitary pads, and water buckets.
Taliban soldiers were deployed in the area, providing help and security. The disaster has further stretched the war-torn nation’s Taliban administration, already grappling with a sharp drop in foreign aid and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.
“Damaged roads, ongoing aftershocks, and remote locations of many villages severely impede the delivery of aid,” the World Health Organisation said, adding that over 12,000 people had been affected by the quake.
“The pre-earthquake fragility of the health system means local capacity is overwhelmed, creating total dependence on external actors,” it said.
Food and tents were desperately needed, said Aseel’s Noorzai. With their houses in ruins, many people were living in the open amid a fear of aftershocks, Noorzai added.
Aid Cuts
The rescue and relief work has struggled in the face of tight resources in the impoverished nation of 42 million people and limited global help in the aftermath of the tragedy.
So far, Britain has allocated 1 million pounds ($1.35 million) to support the efforts of the U.N. and the International Red Cross.
India delivered 1,000 tents and was moving 15 tonnes of food supplies to Kunar, with more relief to be sent on Tuesday.
Other nations such as China, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union, Pakistan and Iran have pledged help, but aid is yet to arrive.
Afghanistan has been badly hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in January to cut funding to its humanitarian arm, USAID and reductions in other foreign aid programmes.
Crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban’s policies toward women and curbs on aid workers, have been a factor in funding cuts, according to diplomats and aid officials.
(With inputs from Reuters)