Survivors of rescued Mediterranean ship say dozens died during the voyage
At least 60 people died as the boat spent about a week lost at sea after leaving Libya, survivors tell rescuers. Survivors from a deflating rubber dinghy rescued in the central Mediterranean Sea reported that at least 60 people who departed Libya with them a week ago died during the journey, a charity rescue group has said. SOS Mediterranee said on Thursday that it had rescued 25 people in a “very weak” condition in coordination with the Italian coastguard a day earlier. Two unconscious people were also flown to Sicily by helicopter but later died. “The survivors departed from Zawiya, Libya, seven days before they were rescued,” SOS Mediterranee said on X. “Their engine broke after three days, leaving their boat lost (and) adrift without water and food for days. Survivors report that at least 60 people perished on the way, including women and at least one child,” it added. The rescue group’s spokesman Francesco Creazzo said the survivors were all male, 12 of them minors. They were from Senegal, Mali and The Gambia. Survivors are rescued by a ship run by SOS Mediterranee [Johanna De Tessieres/Sos Mediterranee/Handout via Reuters] According to testimonies the group gathered, the boat spent about a week lost at sea, with survivors saying many people perished and many others are missing. There was no immediate comment from the Italian Coast Guard. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it was “deeply troubled” by the incident. “Urgent action is needed to strengthen maritime patrols and prevent further tragedies,” the agency said on X. After yesterday’s rescue of 25 people in very weak health condition, a medical evacuation took place in cooperation with the Italian Coast Guards. Two unconscious people our teams weren’t able to rouse were flown to Sicily by helicopter. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/zmBPBSyilN — SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) March 14, 2024 SOS Mediterranee said the central Mediterranean route, which the migrants were attempting to cross, is one of the world’s most dangerous sea migration routes. According to the IOM, almost 2,500 migrants died or went missing on the route last year, with the number for this year at 226 so far. Italy and other European Union governments are trying to quell the number of migrants crossing from North Africa, providing money and resources to Libya and Tunisia to help stop the departures from their shores. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, 5,968 migrants have arrived by sea so far this year, down from 19,937 at the same stage in 2023. Adblock test (Why?)
NATO allies must do more as Ukraine runs out of ammunition: Stoltenberg
NATO’s secretary-general calls on members to show the political will to offer more support for Kyiv against Russia. Ukraine is running out of ammunition and NATO members are not doing enough to help Kyiv, the alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said, in unusually blunt comments about the state of the war. “Unprecedented aid from NATO allies has helped Ukraine survive as an independent nation. But Ukraine needs even more support and they need it now,” Stoltenberg told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. “The Ukrainians are not running out of courage, they are running out of ammunition,” he said. More than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s military has recently been grappling with significantly reduced weapons supplies from the West. “NATO allies are not providing Ukraine with enough ammunition and that has consequences on the battlefield every day,” Stoltenberg said. “It is one of the reasons why the Russians have been able to make some advance on the battlefield over the last weeks and months. “It is an urgent need for allies to make the decisions necessary to step and provide more ammunition to Ukraine. That’s my message to all capitals. “We have the capacity, the economies, to be able to provide Ukraine what they need. This is a question of political will. To take the decisions and to prioritise support for Ukraine.” Stoltenberg presents the 2023 NATO annual report [Virginia Mayo/AP Photo] The US on Tuesday announced a new $300m weapons package for Ukraine, but a further $60bn in funding remains stalled by Republicans in Congress. On Wednesday, European Union countries agreed to provide five billion euros ($5.48bn) for military aid to Ukraine as part of a revamp of an EU-run assistance fund. However, the bloc is well behind schedule in its promise, made last year, to send a million artillery shells to Ukraine by this month. The Czech Republic has led an 18-nation coalition buying artillery shells from outside Europe, and this month Prague announced that the first of 300,000 shells could reach Kyiv within weeks. EU leaders will meet at a Brussels summit next week to discuss initiatives aimed at boosting Europe’s weapons industry. Meanwhile, Russia has ramped up its domestic arms production by putting its economy on a war footing and has received major deliveries of weapons from Iran and North Korea. Adblock test (Why?)
The never-ending war on truth
On March 9, 2015, five men driving a white truck with a concealed number plate abducted Itai Dzamara, a Zimbabwean journalist and activist, from a barbershop in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Within seconds, he was bundled into the unmarked car and driven to an unknown location. Dzamara has not been seen ever since. Eight days before his enforced disappearance, he had called on Zimbabweans to demonstrate against the tough and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in their country. And he had called on then-President Robert Mugabe to resign. His forced disappearance was not an extraordinary event in a country where journalists were (and still are) routinely harassed and detained by authorities for publishing stories deemed to be “politically sensitive” or damaging to those in positions of power. Sixteen years earlier, in January 1999, two journalists, Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, who worked for the Standard newspaper, were forcibly disappeared for 10 days. While under illegal detention, they suffered electric shocks to their hands, feet, and genitals and their heads were submerged in drums of water. When they eventually appeared in court, they both had burn marks on their bodies. Their alleged crime was to publish a story about 23 army officers being arrested for plotting a coup against President Mugabe. In 2008, Jestina Mukoko, a prominent former TV journalist, who also runs an NGO, was abducted from her home in the middle of the night, detained incommunicado for days and tortured by alleged state agents, for her alleged involvement in planning anti-government protests. She thankfully survived her horrific ordeal, and returned to her family and advocacy work. But Dzamara has not been as lucky. He has never returned home to his wife and two young children. Every year on the anniversary of his disappearance, Zimbabweans take to social media to remember him and to vent their frustrations about Zimbabwe’s seemingly never-ending war on journalists, and truth. Despite efforts by civil society and the main opposition party, the state appears extremely reluctant to solve Dzamara’s case and finally deliver justice to his long-suffering family. Mugabe has been out of power since 2017, and Zimbabwe is supposedly a changed country, but to date, the Zimbabwean government has not even bothered to launch a high-level investigation into Dzamara’s violent abduction. This speaks volumes about Harare’s unrelenting contempt for the truth, and war on those who dare to speak truth to power. Whoever disappeared Dzamara clearly intended to instil a great deal of fear in media practitioners and kill journalism in the small southern African country. To some extent, they have succeeded. As recently as this February, a local paper, the NewsHawks, was forced to abandon its investigations into the Zimbabwe National Army after subtle threats from senior army officials. Journalists who dare to investigate military and government corruption in Zimbabwe still expect to be harassed, unlawfully arrested, tortured or worse to this day. Regrettably, Zimbabwe is not an outlier. This proclivity to threaten or kill the messenger to conceal bitter truths appears to be endemic across Africa and around the globe. Joao Chamusse – a veteran Mozambican journalist, and the co-owner and editor of online newspaper Ponto por Ponto – was found dead in the backyard of his house in KaTembe, Maputo City, on December 14, 2023. His neighbours said they heard him scream for help before falling silent. His horrendous murder came on the back of a wave of intimidation against journalists and media outlets in the run-up to this year’s general election. In Lesotho’s capital Maseru, Ralikonelo “Leqhashasha” Joki, who was a prominent reporter for Ts’enolo FM radio station, was shot at least 13 times by unknown assailants as he left the studio after a show in May 2023. Joki was highly critical of state officials, and his death appears related to his endeavours to expose the truth and hold government officials accountable for their actions. It would be amiss to speak of the war on truth tellers without paying homage to the Palestinian journalists killed in Israel’s war on Gaza. At least 88 Palestinian media workers have been killed as they braved shelling to expose Israel’s genocidal violence. Israel’s war on journalists who expose the injustice of its occupation and its abuse of Palestinians did not begin with this latest war, either. Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist and correspondent for Al Jazeera, was shot dead in May 2022 while reporting on an Israel raid in the Jenin refugee camp. And Israel had killed dozens of media workers before her. I despair at the loss of Abu Akleh, and all the other brave, admirable Palestinian journalists who had been silenced by Israeli bombs and bullets. I mourn for Leqhashasha, Chamusse and all the others who have been slain for exposing corruption or speaking truth to power. My heart bleeds for the family of Dzamara, and those of other “disappeared” journalists across the globe, who will likely never learn what actually happened to their loved ones. I feel the deepest pain, however, for those journalists who I fear will meet similar fates in the coming months and years. Indeed, in the absence of strong legal repercussions, there is every chance that other journalists will go missing or be killed by “unknown” people in Zimbabwe. The same is true for those working in Lesotho, Mozambique and elsewhere. And we know Israeli bombs continue to fall on Palestinian journalists as I write these lines. When a journalist is killed or disappeared, people are quick to express sympathy and voice condemnation. Following such news, our social media timelines always fill with messages honouring their lives and achievements. Governments, NGOs, and international institutions issue statements, and vow to hold those responsible to account. Words of empathy and condemnation are of course commendable, but what is needed above all is simple: justice. In the case of Zimbabwe, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have to stop paying lip service to press freedom and demand answers from President Emmerson Mnangagwa. And they should take
Texas Medical Board to consider issuing guidance on abortion laws’ medical exceptions
On March 22, the board will discuss clarifying what counts as a medical exception to the state’s abortion restrictions.
Biden announces infrastructure projects during tour of Democratic ‘blue wall’ states
President Joe Biden is getting to be a familiar face around the Great Lakes — and with a November rematch against Donald Trump looming, that’s no accident. He started a two-day swing through Wisconsin and Michigan in Milwaukee on Wednesday as he tried to shore up a Democratic “blue wall” and build momentum for his re-election campaign after a fiery State of the Union address last week. Aiming to show voters that his administration has improved their lives, Biden used the stop to announce $3.3 billion for infrastructure projects in disadvantaged communities, including $36 million to reconnect parts of Milwaukee’s 6th Street, which had been divided by highway construction in the 1960s. BIDEN-TRUMP SEQUEL UNDERWAY IN HISTORY-MAKING FIRST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION REMATCH SINCE 1956 “We’re rebuilding the roads, we’re filling in the cracks in the sidewalk, we’re creating spaces to live and work and play safely, and to breathe clean air, and to shop at a nearby grocery stocked with fresh and healthy food,” he said. “You’ve lived and felt decisions made decades ago,” Biden said. “Today, today, we’re making decisions to transform your lives for decades to come.” The money comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in the first year of his presidency. Biden told voters that Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor and likely opponent in this year’s election, had promised infrastructure improvements but never delivered. “He didn’t get a single thing done,” Biden said. “Not one.” Biden and Trump clinched their parties’ nominations on Tuesday after decisive victories in the primaries, setting up what promises to be a grinding rematch between the two men. Much of that battle will be fought in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania, which was Biden’s first stop after his State of the Union. They’re collectively known as a “blue wall” because of their historic support for Democrats. Trump flipped all three to win the White House in 2016, but Biden took them back four years ago and likely needs to hold them if he’s going to secure a second term. Biden also plans to travel to North Carolina and other battleground states in the coming weeks. He has been overseeing openings of field offices as his campaign hires and trains organizers and begins assembling volunteers. That’s meant as a show of political organizing strength — an area where the president has so far outpaced Trump, who has been occupied for months with a competitive primary and four ongoing criminal cases in which he faces 91 felony counts. Biden’s re-election campaign hopes on-the-ground organization can neutralize the president’s low approval ratings and polling showing that a majority of voters — even a majority of Democrats — don’t want him to seek re-election. “This particular president is a really impressive retail politician. He doesn’t just do the rally and leave,” said Jim Paine, the mayor of Superior, Wisconsin, a port city on the border with Minnesota. Biden has been there twice, including in January to promote a bridge built as part of the infrastructure law. “He really puts time in with people, listens to individual stories, he talks about his own life one-on-one,” Paine said. The $3.3 billion in grants announced on Wednesday covers 132 total projects, including in Atlanta; Los Angeles and Philadelphia as well as Birmingham, Alabama; Syracuse, New York; and Toledo, Ohio. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that some of the projects are relatively modest and can be completed in “short order,” while others are “massive and ambitious undertakings that will take many years.” Biden visited the opening of his campaign headquarters in Milwaukee, where nearly 40% of residents are Black, rather than Madison, the state capital that typically serves as the fulcrum for Democratic campaigns. He said volunteers and staff in places like Milwaukee would help ensure his victory over Trump. “This is how we are going to win again,” he said. “A lot of you helped me in 2020, and we made sure he was a loser and is a loser and we’re going to make sure that happens again, right?” It’s Biden’s ninth visit to Wisconsin as president and his fifth to Milwaukee, where Republicans are holding their national convention this summer. Chris LaCivita, an adviser to Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson ‘s successful re-election campaign in 2022, is also a top Trump campaign aide — another signal that the state is a top GOP priority. On Thursday, the president heads to Saginaw, north of Detroit, which has high concentrations of Black and union-affiliated voters. It was once reliably Democratic, but swung to Trump in 2016 and only narrowly backed Biden four years ago. Biden and top advisers, both from the campaign and the White House, have made frequent trips to Michigan recently amid criticism of his administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, visiting places like Dearborn, a Detroit suburb with the nation’s highest concentration of Arab Americans. His challenge was demonstrated in Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary last month, when activists promoted an “uncommitted” movement that garnered about 13% of the vote. Thursday’s visit won’t take him to Dearborn, but will instead help Biden connect with key constituencies in other parts of the state. The campaign promises to open more than 15 Michigan field offices, complementing the 44 it and the state Democratic Party have in Wisconsin. Early polls have shown Biden faring better against Trump in Wisconsin than in Michigan. Richard Czuba, a longtime Michigan pollster, said far more potentially decisive in November than supporters of the “uncommitted” movement during the Democratic primary are many “double-unfavorable” voters. He described those as state residents who plan to vote in November but don’t like either Trump or Biden. “If they are persuaded to vote for Joe Biden, Joe Biden will win the state of Michigan,” Czuba said. “But, for Donald Trump, I think it’s an easier assignment to make sure that those double-unfavorables get divided.” One way Biden can win over such voters might be to make the race about issues like abortion rights,
Illinois to cut state-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants, green card holders after soaring costs
Illinois officials are poised to slash a pair of state-funded health insurance programs that cover non-citizens and illegal immigrants, citing soaring costs that have surpassed their estimated projections. In a statement last week, the state announced changes would be coming to the eligibility requirements for the Healthcare Benefits for Immigrant Adults and Seniors program, as the cost to run the initiative ballooned to more than $1 billion over the last year. Illegal immigrants and non-citizen green card holders who have been in the U.S. for fewer than five years will no longer be covered by a pair of the state’s health insurance programs beginning April 1, according to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). “The Department is also committed to ensuring that individuals who are no longer eligible for benefits… receive helpful information about their options so they can connect to alternative coverage, particularly through the federal ACA Marketplace,” the statement read. ILLINOIS HEALTH CARE PROGRAM FOR NONCITIZENS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, BALLOONS TO $1.1B HFS estimated at least 6,000 people will lose coverage come May 1. “The redetermination process ensures that those who are enrolled remain eligible for coverage,” HFS spokesperson Jamie Munks told WBEZ Chicago in a statement. “If an individual loses coverage through the redetermination process, it is because they no longer meet eligibility requirements, or they are required to respond or submit additional information to prove their continued eligibility, but they do not do so.” The state began providing Medicaid-like benefits to those 65 and over in 2020 and expanded it to those 42 and over last year. During a Joint Committee on Administrative Rules meeting on Tuesday, Healthcare and Family Services chief of staff Dana Kelly reportedly told lawmakers the state would save over $13 million by cutting out the ineligible recipients. MARYLAND SENATE PASSES BILL TO ALLOW ILLEGAL MIGRANTS BUY HEALTH INSURANCE Last year, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzer’s budget included a $220 million estimate for the program for FY 2024. But The State Journal-Register reported at the time that a top state health official briefed the Senate’s appropriations committee and said the new estimate was a staggering $880 million above that. Officials said that both the cost of care and the number of those enrollees have dramatically exceeded their estimates. The state had previously estimated 98,500 enrollees, but said there would be over 120,000 signed up in FY24. CALIFORNIA STATE HEALTH INSURANCE TO COVER SEX CHANGES FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Pritzker ended up earmarking $550 million for the programs. This year, $440 million from the state’s general fund has been proposed for the program, the Chicago Tribune reported. The controversy comes amid a broader debate across the country about which benefits, if any, should be extended to those in the country illegally — and as the U.S. continues to face a historic migrant crisis at its border, which Republicans have said is driven in part by migrants being attracted by benefits programs that serve as a magnet. Last week, the Maryland legislature passed a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to buy health insurance. If signed into law, the legislation would allow non-citizens access to purchase health care at the same rate as American citizens. Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Schumer calls for new Israeli leader to replace Netanyahu in Senate floor speech
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on Israel to elect a new prime minister to replace Benjamin Netanyahu in order to move towards a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the form of a two-state solution. In what was billed as a major speech on a two-state solution, Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday that Netanyahu was one of four obstacles to this solution. The majority leader said he believed, “Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel.” Along with Netanyahu, Schumer listed “Hamas, and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways, radical, right-wing Israelis in government and society, [and] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas” as the other obstacles. LAUREN BOEBERT WON’T ‘FURTHER IMPERIL’ SLIM GOP MAJORITY BY RUNNING IN SPECIAL ELECTION FOR KEN BUCK’S SEAT According to Schumer, who is Jewish, Israeli elections are “the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.” He added that he believed a majority of Israelis also recognize a need for change in their government. JOHNSON SAYS HOUSE WILL ‘APPLY EVERY AMOUNT OF PRESSURE’ TO SENATE TO PASS TIKTOK BILL In his reasoning for calling on elections to potentially replace Netanyahu, Schumer explained: “He has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, and as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.” NEW YORK REPUBLICAN CO-SPONSORS BILL DEFENDING IVF TREATMENT Schumer emphasized that Israel will not be able to overcome such a poor public image. “Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” he said. After Schumer’s speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R–Ky., took to the floor and addressed the remarks of his Democratic colleague, but did not call him out by name. “The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,” he said, condemning the call for new Israeli elections as “unprecedented.” “Israel’s unity, government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign democratic country.” The Kentucky Republican added that “foreign observers” who aren’t able to recognize these important distinctions should not give their own prescriptions. McConnell additionally claimed the Democratic Party’s issue is not with Netanyahu, but with the state of Israel itself. As recently as January, Netanyahu rejected the prospect of two states, claiming, “I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan – and this is contrary to a Palestinian state.” The Palestinian Authority has also reiterated its desire for the territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with Jerusalem as the capital.
Election Commission uploads electoral bonds data received from SBI
ECI received data from the State Bank of India (SBI) on March 12.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sustains major injury, says TMC
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sustains major injury, her party TMC said.
Texas rep wants to force sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE, urges Biden to take ‘aggressive action’
FIRST ON FOX: Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales wants to ramp up pressure on “sanctuary” jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in deporting illegal immigrants – and he is urging the Biden administration to take “aggressive action” to help. Gonzales, in an interview with Fox News Digital, highlighted the emergence of Tren De Aragua, a violent Venezuelan street gang that federal authorities have warned has expanded into other countries and is trying to establish itself in the U.S. The Texas congressman called it “essentially the new MS-13.” “They’re going to be entrenched in all our cities, and so it doesn’t make sense to me, if you’re a sanctuary city, that you should not be working with law enforcement to keep your city safe. That’s what it boils down to – to keep your city safe,” Gonzales said. BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN GANG TREN DE ARAGUA SETS UP SHOP IN US AS BORDER AUTHORITIES SOUND ALARM “Sanctuary” jurisdictions are those that, as a policy, do not honor ICE detainers. When ICE believes a removable illegal immigrant has been arrested on criminal charges, it will lodge a detainer – a request that they be notified before the immigrant is released from custody and to keep them in custody until ICE can take custody of them. Proponents of sanctuary policies argue that enforcing federal law is not the responsibility of local jurisdictions and that working with ICE has a chilling effect on relations between people seeking asylum and members of the local community. But such policies have recently been brought under heightened scrutiny after a number of high-profile incidents where jurisdictions ignored ICE detainers and released illegal immigrants, only for them to subsequently commit serious crimes. Gonzales, who recently spoke to acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner, sits on the House Appropriations Committee and said his team is working on items that can empower ICE and also limit sanctuary cities. “If you really want to move the needle, put money behind it,” he said. “Appropriations is where you do that. So that is one of the things that our team is looking at.” “I want to empower ICE to go out there and catch these bad actors,” he said. “This is no longer a partisan issue. I think there’s a lot of fertile ground for you to get people to agree on it.” Along with more funding for ICE, Gonzales said he was tying federal grants to cooperation with ICE – something the Trump administration implemented with certain DOJ grants. However, he also floated something even stronger – a mandate for that cooperation with ICE. ILLEGAL BROTHER OF LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO VENEZUELAN CRIME GANG: DOJ “I think one of the things that we can solve is getting these sanctuary cities to not be an option, that they work with federal agencies, for there to be a mandate,” he said. “Like, ‘Here’s the deal. You will work with federal agencies to… tackle these bad actors and keep your city safe.’” In the meantime, Gonzales is leading a letter to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. That letter, a copy of which was obtained by Fox News Digital, carries the signatures of nearly two dozen Republicans and says sanctuary policies pose a “direct threat” to public safety. WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES “We are asking you to take aggressive action to end the abuse of our nation’s border laws and discourage sanctuary cities from providing safe harbor to violent criminals who have entered our country illegally,” it reads. While Republicans and the administration have been at loggerheads over immigration policy, there may be some common ground. Lechleitner recently told Fox News that such jurisdictions are “inherently more unsafe.” “It is a concern, and I’m very baffled by it,” he said. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told mayors in 2022 that he would be seeking to persuade leaders to change their policies. “We are not engaged in indiscriminate enforcement, but we are focused on making our communities safe and allowing those who have been contributors to it and productive members of it, to allow them to continue in their contributions and their productivity,” he told the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2022. “And so, I will be coming to you and asking you to reconsider your position of non-cooperation and see how we can work together.” The White House, in a statement to Fox News Digital last month, said it welcomes local law enforcement cooperation “in apprehending and removing individuals who pose a risk to national security or public safety.” “When a local jurisdiction has information about an individual who could pose a threat to public safety, we want them to share that information with ICE,” a spokesperson said. The Republican lawmakers cited that statement as they continue to urge the administration to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions. “We urge you to act on these demands and ensure that sanctuary cities cooperate – our national security depends on it,” the letter reads. Fox reached out to the White House and DHS for comment regarding the letter but did not hear back at press time. Gonzales also noted that any moves to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions could be helpful to a future Trump administration. He said: “Even though he’s going to implement all these new policies, there needs to be a buildup ahead of time… And I think there’s an opportunity here to do that through the appropriations process by punishing those sanctuary cities that aren’t cooperating and rewarding ICE that is actually… getting back to doing their job.”