Texas Gov. Abbott sends 42 migrants on bus to downtown Los Angeles
The latest migrant bus trip arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 14, with dozens of migrants being sent from Texas. Many of the 42 migrants on the bus were from Latin American countries, including Honduras and Venezuela. One person had an immigration appointment in New York.
“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, said in a statement. “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status. Our border communities are on the frontlines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”
After the bus dropped the migrants off in Los Angeles, they were cared for by city agencies and charitable organizations at St. Anthony’s Croatian Catholic Church near downtown. In a statement, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, D, said she had instructed city departments to prepare to accept migrants from out of state after Republican governors began sending asylum-seekers to Democratic states in recent months.
“This did not catch us off guard, nor will it intimidate us. Now, it’s time to execute our plan,” Mayor Bass said in the statement. “Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives. We are a city that seeks to treat all people with dignity and compassion and we will continue to work closely with non-profit organizations, including the L.A. Welcomes Collective, as well as with our County, State and Federal partners.”
Club Q mass shooter to take plea deal: ‘I have to take responsibility’: June 15 rundown
The suspect in the Club Q mass shooting is expected to take a plea deal, and hundreds of migrants were unaccounted for after an overloaded fishing boat sank. These stories and more highlight the rundown for Thursday, June 15, 2023.
Club Q shooting suspect to take plea deal
The suspect in last November’s mass shooting at the gay nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs is now expected to take a plea deal. This is according to several survivors of the shooting who have spoken to the Associated Press.
In a series of jail calls to the Associated Press, 23-year-old Anderson Aldrich expressed remorse, as well as his intention to face the consequences for the shooting, which left five people dead and 17 others wounded. Aldrich faces more than 300 state charges, including murder and hate crimes.
The Justice Department is also considering filing federal hate crime charges. A plea deal over the Club Q shooting would ensure that Aldrich gets the maximum state sentence of life in prison. A hearing is set for June 26.
9 more women accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault
Bill Cosby, the first celebrity to be tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, has been sued again for sexual assault. Nine women accuse the actor of individually drugging and assaulting them between the years of 1979 and 1992.
The women claim the sexual assaults occurred in dressing rooms and hotels in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. The 85 year-old former “Cosby Show” star has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women.
Cosby was released from prison in 2021 after a court overturned his 2018 conviction.
Texas sends buses of migrants to Los Angeles
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has sent dozens of migrants to California in several buses that arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 14. It’s the first time Texas has chosen Los Angeles as the final destination.
42 migrants left the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas for the 15,000-mile journey. According to one of the nonprofits assisting the migrants, there were eight children between the ages of 2 and 9, accompanied by their families on the bus. Los Angeles city officials learned about the migrants while the bus was on its way.
The bus trip comes days after dozens of migrants arrived in Sacramento. Those migrants were sent courtesy of Florida.
The city of Los Angeles voted last week to draft a “sanctuary city” policy, which often limits immigration enforcement actions.
78 migrants dead after fishing boat sinks
Nearly 80 migrants died after an “overloaded fishing boat” trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. An aerial photo of the blue vessel was released by the Greek Coast Guard. It shows scores of people covering almost every inch of the deck.
A undated handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants onboard a boat during a rescue operation, before their boat capsized on the open sea, off Greece, June 14, 2023.
Greek Coast Guard officials have described this sort of fishing boat as a “floating coffin.”
Survivors fear hundreds of migrants were trapped in the lower deck and still unaccounted for. The migrants included Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Palestinians.
Greece has declared three days of mourning as rescue efforts neared an end in the Mediterranean.
“Right now, they’re under shock. So, I think that the medical and psychological needs of the people as well as their communication with their families, that’s their biggest concern. They want to tell their families that they are well,” said Erasmia Roumana, the senior protection associate at the United Nations Human Rights Center in Greece.
Report finds Boris Johnson misled Parliament about COVID parties
A seven-member committee in the British Parliament has released its “Partygate” report after spending more than a year investigating former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s role in a series of parties in 2020 and 2021. The parties were held during the pandemic, when such gatherings were prohibited by law.
The report suggested Johnson “deliberately misled parliament about the parties.” It also ordered a 90 day suspension with a potential of sanctioning the former prime minister.
Johnson resigned from his post in Parliament less than a week ago, ahead of the report’s release. He released a statement saying he was being “forced out” by a handful of people and claimed the committee had no evidence to back such allegations against him.
Johnson resigned as prime minister in July of 2022.
U.S. open begins in wake of PGA/LIV merger
The U.S. Open golf tournament kicks off Thursday. The tournament gets underway just days after the bombshell merger announcement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
The two organizations had a short-but-complicated history of spats. It was one year ago when the PGA Tour held its U.S. Open on the heels of LIV’s first event.
‘Surprising’: Canadian official reacts to migrants leaving New York
A top official in the Canadian province of Québec spoke with reporters about recent reports of migrants who were bussed to New York City and are now making their way to Canada. New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed those reports Monday.
Québec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette described the development as “surprising.” She said it highlighted the need to “solve the problem of Roxham Road,” referring to an unofficial border crossing south of Montreal used by thousands of asylum seekers every year.
Back in 2002, the United States and Canada signed the Safe Third Country Agreement. The treaty requires migrants to make an asylum claim in the first country they enter, whether that be the U.S. or Canada.
“The agreement helps both governments better manage access to the refugee system in each country for people crossing the Canada–U.S. land border,” the Canadian government writes about the treaty. However, the government added the agreement only applies to migrants who arrive:
at official Canada-U.S. land border crossings
by train
at airports, only if the person seeking refugee protection in Canada has been refused refugee status in the U.S. and is in transit through Canada after being deported from the U.S.
This means unofficial border crossings, like Roxham Road, are not a part of the treaty. Fréchette said U.S. and Canadian officials were negotiating to update the Safe Third Country Agreement to include situations like the New York migrants heading to Canada.
“I think it makes the urgency of the situation even more apparent,” Frechétte said.
Migrants leave New York for Canada with taxpayer-funded tickets
New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed reports that some of the migrants who were bussed to the city are leaving for Canada. The migrants are using taxpayer-funded bus tickets to leave the city before crossing the border upstate.
According to those local reports, the migrants wanted to get away from New York City’s crime and homelessness crises. Monday, Mayor Adams added that some of the migrants had other destinations in mind when they initially arrived in Texas. However, according to Adams, they were only offered to go to New York City.
“Some want to go to Canada, some want to go to warmer states, and we are there for them as they continue to move on with their pursuit of this dream,” Adams said in an interview with Fox 5 New York Monday. “Those who are seeking to go somewhere else, not we’re pushing or forcing, if they are seeking to go somewhere else, we are helping in the reticketing process.”
Many migrants at the new facility complained of a lack of privacy and “freezing” temperatures. Defending his administration’s decision, Adams spent Friday night at the terminal, sleeping on a cot through the night to highlight that the conditions at the terminal are safe and humane, even when temperatures reach below freezing outside.
“When we walked into the coldest night of the year, I wanted to really have solidarity to those who were seeking the American dream,” Adams said in an interview with Spectrum News NY1 Monday. “We had a good conversation, had a warm place to sleep, and I got up in the morning, had breakfast and talked to the asylum seekers.”
Poland missile blast; Trump announces 2024 run; Title 42 ruling
An investigation is underway into a missile blast in Poland; Donald Trump announced he is running for president in 2024; and a judge ordered the end of Title 42. These stories highlight the Daily Rundown for Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022.
Poland missile blast – NATO leaders met Wednesday to discuss why and how a missile that Poland said was Russian-made came down in Polish farmland, killing two people. Polish President Andrzej Duda said there are no signs that the blast was a deliberate attack. According to U.S. officials, preliminary assessments suggested the was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile.
“It’s unlikely, in the minds of the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia,” President Joe Biden said in remarks Wednesday. “We agreed to support Poland’s investigation into the explosion … and I’m going to make sure we figure out exactly what happened.”
“I am running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be. We have not reached that pinnacle,” former President Trump said at his announcement Tuesday night. “First, we have to get out of this ditch. And once we’re out, you’ll see things that nobody imagined for any country. It’s called the United States of America. And it’s an incredible place.”
Judges orders end to Title 42 – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Biden administration to lift Title 42 restrictions. The policy has been a cornerstone of border enforcement since the beginning of COVID-19.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan called the ban “arbitrary and capricious.” He wrote that authorities failed to consider the impact on migrants, as well as possible alternatives to Title 42.
The Title 42 ruling came on the same day Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, announced Philadelphia will be the next destination for migrants the state is transporting by bus from the border. He did not say how many migrants were on board or whether more than one busload was sent. Gov. Abbott has already sent migrants to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
