Al-Shabab fighters attack strategic town in central Somalia
The armed group claims to have seized control of Adan Yabaal town, but the Somali army disputes the battle outcome. The al-Shabab armed group has claimed to have seized control of Adan Yabaal, a town in central Somalia and a logistical hub for the government forces, about 220 kilometres (130 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu. The fighters launched the raids before dawn on Wednesday, forcing the army to retreat after fierce battles, according to a security officer quoted by the Anadolu news agency. However, the report was disputed by the army. Captain Hussein Olow, a military officer in Adan Yabaal, told the Reuters news agency that government troops had pushed the group back. “The terrorist militants launched a desperate attack on the Somali army positions in the Adan Yabaal district this morning,” Somali captain Mohamed Ali told the AFP news agency from a nearby town. “There was heavy fighting still going on in some parts of the town,” he said. There were no reports of casualties. ‘Deafening explosion’ Al-Shabab has been fighting the Somali government for more than 16 years and frequently targets government officials and military personnel. Advertisement Adan Yabaal has strategic military significance and serves as a critical logistical hub connecting Hirshabelle state to the neighbouring central state of Galmudug. It was recaptured from al-Shabab in 2022. “After early morning prayers, we heard a deafening explosion, then gunfire,” Fatuma Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters by phone from Adan Yabaal. “Al-Shabab attacked us from two directions,” she added. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is from the area, visited the town in March to meet with military commanders there. A new African Union peacekeeping mission replaced a larger force at the start of the year, but its funding is uncertain, with the United States opposed to a plan to transition to a United Nations financing model. Adblock test (Why?)
Capturing Water
Campaigners in Cape Town, South Africa confront the socioeconomic and environmental problems in the city’s water management system. After three years of poor rainfall, in 2018, Cape Town announced drastic action to avoid running out of water completely. In this film, three activists fight for “water justice” and expose the socioeconomic divide and the environmental “cracks” in South Africa’s water management system. In Cape Town’s “Day Zero” water crisis in 2018, Faeza Meyer fought against water cut-offs affecting poor communities, Caroline Marx tackled sewage pollution in a local lagoon, and Nazeer Sonday defended precious groundwater from industrial developers. The film examines how market-driven water management increases the rich-poor divide and contributes to broader environmental issues in South Africa. It exposes the systemic problems behind the 2018 crisis – and the complex relationship between economic policies and access to this vital resource. It emphasises the need for sustainable solutions to growing environmental problems – and is a reminder of the importance of water management and conservation at a time of increasing climate uncertainty. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Grassley, Johnson press DOJ IG to respond on whether ‘untasked’ undercover agents were present on Jan. 6
EXCLUSIVE: Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are demanding information from the Justice Department’s inspector general on whether any unassigned or “untasked” confidential human sources from DOJ agencies beyond the FBI were in or around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In 2024, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed that there were more than two dozen FBI confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but only three were assigned by the bureau to be present for the event. One of the three confidential human sources tasked by the FBI to attend the rally entered the Capitol building, while the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol. If a confidential human source is directed to be at a certain event, they are paid by the FBI for their time. WERE UNDERCOVER SOURCES FROM OTHER DOJ AGENCIES PRESENT ON JAN. 6? GRASSLEY, JOHNSON DEMAND ANSWERS Horowitz, in that report, said none of the sources were authorized or directed by the FBI to “break the law” or “encourage others to commit illegal acts.” In December, and after the release of Horowitz’s report, Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., demanded information on whether confidential human sources from DOJ agencies beyond the FBI were used on Jan. 6, 2021. In an April 7 letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, Horowitz notified the senators that he found no evidence the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), or the Bureau of Prisons deployed confidential human sources to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. “We can confirm that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) did not have any undercover employees in Washington, D.C. on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6,” Horowitz wrote in his response. “This includes in or around the Capitol or in the restricted area of the Capitol.” “We can also confirm that the ATF, DEA, USMS, and BOP did not have any tasked CHSs in Washington, D.C. on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6,” Horowitz continued. “This includes in or around the Capitol or in the restricted area of the Capitol.” However, Horowitz could not conclusively say whether any of those agencies had “untasked” confidential human sources – or those who traveled on their own initiative – present on Jan. 6, 2021. “With respect to whether any DOJ law enforcement components other than the FBI had untasked CHSs in Washington, D.C. on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6, unlike the FBI, we have no information at this time as to whether the ATF, DEA, USMS, or BOP conducted a post-January 6 canvass to determine if any of their CHSs traveled on their own initiative (untasked) to D.C. in connection with the January 6 events,” Horowitz wrote. Horowitz notified Grassley and Johnson that after conversations with their Senate staff on the matter, the DOJ inspector general’s office is inquiring with those agencies further on whether they have any information to indicate whether any of their confidential human sources were in Washington D.C. “on their own initiative (untasked) for the events on January 6.” “We will supplement this response when we receive that information,” Horowitz wrote. Grassley and Johnson, in a letter to Horowitz obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, demanded Horowitz provide that information, saying his investigative work appeared to be “narrowly focused” on just the FBI’s use of CHSs, and said his response on “untasked CHSs from DOJ components other than the FBI” was “less definitive.” In addition, Grassley and Johnson are demanding further information on confidential human sources, noting that “the term ‘undercover agent’ can mean many things.” Grassley and Johnson are now reiterating their request for information on whether “any federal law enforcement components, including FBI, ATF, DEA, USMS, or BOP had employees or contractors wearing civilian clothing in the Washington D.C. area; at the Capitol Building; and in restricted areas on J6 in an official or unofficial capacity.” Meanwhile, Grassley and Johnson, in December, also questioned whether Horowitz thoroughly reviewed classified and unclassified communications between handlers and their sources, warning that without that review, there may be a “major blind spot” in his findings. Horowitz, in his April letter to the senators, said he reviewed the “relevant portions of CHS files in the FBI’s electronic record-keeping system for CHS management” and obtained “relevant portions of those files,” including underlying text messages, photographs and videos. Horowitz said he obtained emails documenting the FBI’s Washington Field Office communications with CHS handlers of the tasked CHSs, and emails of CHS handling agents of “untasked” CHSs who contacted the Washington Field Office during the events of Jan. 6, 2021. “We flagged certain additional documents to be produced, including 1023s, documentation of unauthorized illegal activity (which generated a negative response), approvals for the tasked CHSs, and some underlying text messages and photographs referenced in 1023s, including text messages sent and shared between CHSs and their handlers,” Horowitz wrote, adding that he also obtained instant messages from the FBI’s classified and unclassified communication platforms. DOJ IG REVEALS 26 FBI INFORMANTS WERE PRESENT ON JAN. 6 “As with all reviews, we sought the information that was most relevant to our review, one aspect of which was to confirm that no FBI handling agent, FBI Headquarters personnel, or WFO personnel authorized any CHS to engage in illegal activity on January 6, 2021,” Horowitz stressed. “Given this scope, and the fact that the OIG did not receive any information indicating that any individual handling agent had inappropriate communications with a CHS, the OIG requested and reviewed relevant text messages between handling agents and CHSs, but did not request all of the text messages for all of the 26 CHSs and their handlers.” Horowitz explained that for many of the confidential human sources in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, “the handling agents did not
EPA chief takes on Mexican ‘sewage crisis’ flowing into US waters where Navy SEALs train
FIRST ON FOX: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin will visit San Diego next week to meet with Navy SEALs and local leaders as he zeroes in on addressing a Mexican sewage problem flowing into waters off the California coast, Fox News Digital learned. Zeldin will head to San Diego on Tuesday, when he will see firsthand reported sewage flowing from across the border in Tijuana into American waters where Navy SEALs train, an EPA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The EPA administrator will also tour the southern border by helicopter and meet with the SEALs who train in the water filled with sewage. “Administrator Lee Zeldin will be in San Diego next Tuesday, 4/22, to see this international sewage issue firsthand,” the spokesperson said, confirming the trip. “He will be touring the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, participating in a roundtable with local stakeholders and elected officials, taking a helicopter tour of the U.S. Southern border, and meeting with Navy SEALs who train in the area.” PETA, ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS PRAISE TRUMP ADMIN FOR PHASING OUT ‘CRUEL TESTS ON DOGS’ AND OTHER ANIMALS “Administrator Zeldin is committed to ensuring every American has access to clean air, land and water, and he looks forward to the opportunity to get out to San Diego next week.” LEE ZELDIN: WHY WE’RE SHUTTING DOWN BIDEN’S EPA MUSEUM Zeldin first addressed the sewage problem in March before previewing the trip to take the issue head on. “I was just briefed that Mexico is dumping large amounts of raw sewage into the Tijuana River, and it’s now seeping into the U.S.,” he posted to X March 8. “This is unacceptable. Mexico MUST honor its commitments to control this pollution and sewage!” He previewed in another X post in April that he would travel to the “California-Mexico border in the coming weeks where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States.” Local leaders have been sounding the alarm on the sewage problem, including Imperial Beach’s Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who sent a letter to Zeldin in March describing how the raw sewage has sparked one of “America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disaster” as billions of gallons have polluted the Pacific Ocean since 2023 alone. “The toxic sewage coming across the border from Mexico into South San Diego County is among America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disasters,” Aguirre’s March 3 letter to Zeldin and published online reads. “Since 2023, over 31 billion gallons of raw sewage, polluted stormwater and trash have flowed across the Mexican border, down the Tijuana River, through the cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach and into the Pacific Ocean.” ZELDIN SHUTTERS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR BIDEN EPA MUSEUM THAT ‘SCARCELY’ SAW VISITORS The letter called on Zeldin to assist with the crisis by authorizing a new review of the Lower Tijuana River Valley’s sewage crisis for Superfund designation. The crisis has affected tourism, homeowners and the Navy SEALs, who train at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, as well as surrounding beaches in the massive Southern California county. STACEY ABRAMS SLAMMED AFTER DEFENDING $2 BILLION IN BIDEN-ERA EPA FUNDS TO BUY GREEN ENERGY APPLIANCES “Our residents, are getting ill due to polluted air,” the letter continued. “Workers, including Navy Seals training in the area, have been sickened on the job by waterborne and aerosolized diseases. Many homeowners have been forced to place air quality monitors on their property so they know whether or not its safe to go outside. And the economic impact is profound, with the sewage crisis hurting area tourism, maritime industry jobs and local property values.” A Department of Defense Inspector General report published Feb. 7 determined that between January 2019 and May 2023, more than 1,000 Navy SEALs and SEAL candidates became sick after training in the water, including with acute gastrointestinal illnesses.
Illegal immigrant arrested for incest with teenager, released by Virginia jail captured by ICE
An illegal immigrant who was arrested in January on charges of incest and sexual battery is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being released from a Virginia county jail. Officers with ICE, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security team, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Virginia State Police arrested Marvin Mateo-Alberto last week, a Honduran national who was in the U.S. illegally, according to an ICE release. The Hoduran national first illegally entered the U.S. in October 2005 near Eagle Pass, Texas, according to the release, where he was given a notice to appear in front of an immigration judge. ICE USING SOCIAL SECURITY RECORDS TO AID TRUMP PUSH TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS In April 2006, a Justice Department judge ordered that Mateo-Alberto be removed from the United States. Despite that, Mateo-Alberto was arrested in January by the Fairfax County Police Department and charged with incest with a 13-to-17-year-old child and aggravated sexual battery: parent with a 13-to-17-year-old child, the release notes, resulting in ICE lodging a detainer against him with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. However, the release notes, the county detention center did not honor the ICE detainer and released Mateo-Alberto 15 days after his arrest. Fairfax County has “not designated” itself “as a sanctuary county,” according to the county’s website, adding that it “complies to the fullest extent required by federal, state or local law with any law enforcement agency requesting criminal law enforcement assistance.” However, the website also notes its official policy is that it “does not and will not enforce civil federal immigration laws.” FLORIDA’S LARGEST VENEZUELAN STRONGHOLD POISED TO JOIN FORCES WITH ICE: REPORT “The federal courts have determined that the enforcement of civil immigration laws is solely a federal responsibility under the exclusive authority of ICE,” the county website reads. The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. Mateo-Alberto was eventually arrested by ICE on April 10 and remains in the agency’s custody, according to the ICE release. “Marvin Mateo-Alberto stands accused of some very appalling and disturbing crimes and represents a threat to the children of our Virginia communities,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C., Field Office Director Russell Hott said. “We cannot in good conscience allow Mr. Mateo to continue to potentially threaten other children in our neighborhoods. ICE Washington, D.C. will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien threats from our streets.”
Bernie Sanders, AOC and other anti-Trump progressives haul in big bucks for 2026 midterms
It apparently pays to lead the resistance. Progressive lawmakers in Congress who have been among the most vocal in pushing back against President Donald Trump’s aggressive and controversial second-term agenda are seeing a surge in fundraising. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the longtime progressive champion, hauled in $11.5 million in the January-March first quarter of 2025 fundraising, according to Federal Election Commission filings this week. The Vermont independent and two-time Democratic presidential primary runner-up also reports more than $19 million in his campaign coffers at the start of this month. WHAT BERNIE SANDERS TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT TRUMP, MUSK, AND DEMOCRATS Sanders has been drawing tens of thousands of people to his “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies across the country over the past six weeks. Co-headling those rallies is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another rock star on the political left. The four-term Democrat from New York City raked in a massive $9.6 million the past three months. The record-breaking fundraising haul was one of the biggest ever for any House lawmaker. BERNIE SANDERS AND AOC TAKE AIM AT TRUMP AND MUSK, AS WELL AS DEMOCRATS, AT WESTERN RALLIES Ocasio-Cortez’s team highlighted that the fundraising came from 266,000 individual donors, with an average contribution of just $21. “I cannot convey enough how grateful I am to the millions of people supporting us with your time, resources, & energy. Your support has allowed us to rally people together at record scale to organize their communities,” Ocasio-Cortez emphasized in a social media post. Another Democrat in Congress who has been very visible in leading the resistance to Trump is Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. Murphy, who won re-election last November and doesn’t have to run again until 2030, hauled in $8 million over the past three months, his biggest quarterly fundraising ever. “The people are sending Democrats a message about the direction they would like to see,” top Sanders advisor Faiz Shakir said in a social media post. Longtime Democratic operative and strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of the Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, told Fox News that “there’s a direct correlation between fundraising and action… this is an indication of the yearning for action over inaction… that is what Democratic voters and Democratic activists want.” And Caiazzo warned that “the stale ways of Washington have been rejected by the voters, and we need to understand that going into the next cycle.” HOUSE GOP TOUTS ‘UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM’ AS IT SHOWCASES FUNDRAISING While not bringing in similar eye-popping numbers, House Republicans are touting their first-quarter fundraising, as they prepare to defend their razor-thin majority in the chamber in next year’s midterm elections. Seven GOP lawmakers in competitive districts who are being targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee each raised seven figures over the past three months. Leading the way was Rep. Mike Lawler of the 17th Congressional District of New York, who hauled in nearly $1.5 million during the first quarter. Lawler is mulling a statewide bid for New York governor in 2026. Also on the list are Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona’s 6th District, Young Kim and Ken Calvert, of California’s 40th and 41st Districts, respectively, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa’s 1st District, Jen Kiggans of Virginia’s 2nd District, and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin’s 3rd District The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) highlighted that House GOP lawmakers in competitive districts enjoy a large fundraising advantage over Democrats in competitive seats. And the NRCC emphasized that this is “a huge difference” from the first fundraising quarter during the 2024 election cycle, when the Democrats held a campaign cash advantage. “House Republicans aren’t just winning the fundraising game against vulnerable Democrats – they’re running laps around them,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued.
Bondi defiant, says Abrego Garcia will stay in El Salvador ‘end of the story’
Attorney General Pam Bondi doubled down on the Trump administration’s claim that it’s “up to El Salvador” whether Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant in Maryland who was wrongfully deported last month, can return to the U.S. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday, Bondi reiterated her earlier claim that it is up to El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele whether his country opts to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., even though officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error. “He is not coming back to our country,” Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday, in response to a question about his legal status during the briefing. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian national who had been living in Maryland before he was deported in March. Now, he is believed to be held in his home country’s sprawling, maximum-security prison. Both a federal court and the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his release and return to the U.S. for proper deportation proceedings. ‘UP TO EL SALVADOR’: TRUMP ADMIN PUNTS ON RETURN OF WRONGFULLY DEPORTED MARYLAND RESIDENT Bondi made clear Wednesday that they continue to see the issue as squarely in the purview of Bukele. “President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story,” she said. “If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back. There was no situation, ever, where he was going to stay in this country. None.” Her remarks come after the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s order that requires the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” On Tuesday, a federal judge in Maryland ordered Trump lawyers and plaintiffs to conduct an “intense,” expedited two-week discovery process into efforts made to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return – including ordering top DHS and State Department officials to be deposed, under oath, in efforts to secure his return as the court weighs whether the Trump administration has been acting in good faith. “Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told both parties Tuesday, clearing the way for what she said would be an extremely fast-paced timeframe. “There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” she said of the process. Bondi also emphasized that Abrego Garcia is not a U.S. citizen and had been living “illegally in our country from El Salvador.” FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING That is not in dispute. A U.S. court granted Abrego Garcia temporary protected status in 2019, finding he faced a “clear probability of future persecution” if returned, and that “El Salvadoran authorities were and would be unable or unwilling to protect him.” Neither the Supreme Court ruling nor the lower court orders require Abrego Garcia to remain in the U.S. Rather, the courts have stressed that individuals slated for deportation must be granted certain due process protections under the U.S. Constitution, including habeas protections that allow them to challenge their removal in court. It was not the first time this week that Trump officials have suggested that El Salvador should have the final say on Abrego Garcia’s status. They also made this claim on Monday, when President Donald Trump hosted Bukele at the White House for a bilateral summit. When asked by reporters about Abrego Garcia, Bondi and other Cabinet officials said the matter was up to Bukele’s administration. “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said then. “The Supreme Court ruled precedent that if El Salvador wanted to return him,” she continued. “This is international matters, foreign affairs.” Bondi added that “if they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it – meaning to provide a plane.” El Salvador has received hundreds of migrants from the U.S., including more than 200 Venezuelan nationals abruptly removed in March under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, and alleged members of the Salvadorian gang MS-13, under a $6 million deal struck with the U.S. earlier this year. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller doubled down on Bondi’s assertion, noting that Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian national. “It’s very arrogant, even for American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens as a starting point,” Miller told reporters, claiming that “two courts” had found Abrego Garcia to be a member of the MS-13 gang.
Her Name is Nanny Nellie: Reclaiming Aboriginal History
The discovery of Aboriginal statues in the archives of the Australian Museum prompts a quest to reclaim dignity. A trio of nameless statues buried in the archives of the Australian Museum triggers a great-granddaughter’s quest to honour her ancestors and reclaim their life stories. In 1925, Australia’s Census declared Aboriginal people a “dying race”. The Australian Museum commissioned three statues of Aboriginal people: a child, a man and a woman, exhibited as nameless objects to be studied. The woman was Nellie Bunjil, Irene Ridgeway’s great-grandmother. Irene embarks on a journey to retrace Nanny Nellie’s life and redisplay the statues, this time with her name, identity and dignity. Her Name is Nanny Nellie is a documentary film by Daniel King. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine prolongs martial law amid Russian air attacks, heavy ground battles
The measure enables Ukraine to further delay elections, despite pressure for a presidential vote from the US and Russia. Ukraine’s parliament has voted to extend martial law and military mobilisation for another three months, prolonging the wartime measures until at least August 6. Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said the extension of martial law passed by a 357-1 vote, while a measure to maintain troop mobilisation was approved 356-1. Under Ukraine’s constitution, elections cannot be held during martial law – a provision that remains in effect despite external calls, including from Russia and the United States, for a timeline on a future vote. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose five-year term was originally due to end in May last year, and even raised the prospect of a temporary United Nations-backed government to lead Ukraine to elections. Reacting to the martial law extension, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Kyiv of trying to “preserve its unstable structure”. In February, US President Donald Trump described Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections”, prompting Ukrainians to rally around their leader and boosting his approval ratings. Advertisement As peace talks led by the Trump administration created hopes for a potential ceasefire and eventual elections, some Ukrainian opposition politicians have grown more vocal in their criticism of Zelenskyy. Still, there is broad support for maintaining martial law. Petro Poroshenko, a former president and leader of the country’s largest opposition party, said there was no doubt martial law should be prolonged, but accused Zelenskyy of attempting to use the measure to shore up his powers. “I want to stress that we should recognise the obvious – the government has started to abuse martial law, using it not only to defend the country, but to build an authoritarian regime,” Poroshenko said during parliamentary debates on Tuesday. Uncertainty over energy strike moratorium The martial law vote came as heavy fighting and air attacks continued between Russia and Ukraine, now in the 38th month of gruelling war. An overnight Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa injured three people and damaged homes, while various morning air and artillery attacks killed at least one person in the southern city of Kherson, according to Ukrainian officials. A resident of Odesa stands in the back yard of his house, damaged by a Russian drone attack, April 16, 2025 [Nina Liashonok/Reuters] Meanwhile, the Russian military said its forces captured the eastern Ukrainian village of Kalynove, another small claimed advance in the embattled Donetsk region. The Russian Ministry of Defence also accused Ukraine of carrying out six attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, despite a mutually-agreed 30-day moratorium on such strikes. Advertisement It is unclear if the pause on attacks on energy infrastructure, due to expire on Wednesday, will be extended. “We’ll keep you informed. I am not yet ready to tell you what decision has been made,” Peskov told reporters when asked about whether Russia would extend the moratorium. Adblock test (Why?)
Can Trump legally deport US citizens to El Salvador prisons?
After deporting 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members and 23 members of a Salvadoran gang to a maximum-security El Salvador prison last month, US President Donald Trump is now contemplating deporting criminals who are United States citizens there as well, he told reporters on Monday. But Trump’s latest plan will probably face multiple legal challenges. Forcibly sending American passport holders outside the country is likely illegal, experts say, and Trump himself signed a bill during his first term that could make such deportations even more difficult. So what is Trump’s plan, what are the legal challenges and can it ever be legal to deport a US citizen from the US? Who has Trump already deported to El Salvador? Last month, Trump deported 238 members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, as well as 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 to El Salvador. These men are now being held in the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo) or CECOT, a 40,000-capacity, maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Advertisement To facilitate this, the Trump administration struck a deal under which the US government will pay El Salvador about $6m to detain alleged Tren de Aragua members for a year. Trump also invoked a wartime “zombie” law from 1798, the Alien Enemies Act, to enable the deportations. This law permits US presidents to detain or deport noncitizens during wartime. Prior to Trump’s use of it, the Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. A prison guard transfers deportees from the US, alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025 [File: El Salvador presidential press office via AP] Trump’s use of the law is controversial, as critics argue that the US is not currently under any threat of “invasion” as a result of being at war. An explainer article from the Brennan Center for Justice argued in 2024 that invoking the act “in peacetime to bypass conventional immigration law would be a staggering abuse” and such an attempt should be struck down by the courts. Another point of controversy is that, as well as the alleged gang members, Trump also deported Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran citizen who has lived in Maryland for 14 years and is married to a US citizen. In 2019, Abrego Garcia was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Maryland after an informant told the police that Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 terrorist. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have denied this allegation, citing a lack of any proof that Abrego Garcia is affiliated with the MS-13. Advertisement Later in 2019, an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia an immigration protection called “withholding of removal”, which shielded him from being returned to El Salvador and allowed him to remain in the US. The government has described his deportation as an “administrative error”, but still claims that Abrego Garcia has ties to MS-13. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said he would not return Abrego Garcia, who is now being held in CECOT, to the US. “The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele told reporters on Monday. In an unsigned order on Thursday, however, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in a 9-0 decision that Trump should facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the US. The court currently comprises a conservative majority of 6-3. What has Trump said about deporting US citizens to El Salvador? Trump hosted El Salvador’s President Bukele at the White House for bilateral talks on Monday, during which they discussed the recent deportations as well as plans for more – this time of US citizens. Trump told Bukele during the meeting: “I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places.” By “homegrowns”, Trump was referring to criminals who hold US citizenship. The US president told reporters on Monday after that meeting that he hopes to deport US citizens who are criminals to El Salvador. Bukele said that he would be open to housing US prisoners as well. Trump acknowledged, however, that he would only be able to proceed with this plan if it is shown to be legal, and that he would only deport citizens who are “violent criminals”. Advertisement “We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters,” said Trump. “I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to be looking at the laws on that.” During a media briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “would only consider this [sending US citizens to El Salvador], if legal, for Americans who are the most violent, egregious, repeat offenders of crime who nobody in this room wants living in their communities”. She did not provide additional comments about the legal considerations the administration would make. Would it be illegal to deport US citizens? When Fox News host Jesse Watters asked Attorney General, Pam Bondi on Tuesday if the plan to deport US citizens was legal, she said only: “These are Americans who he is saying have committed the most heinous crimes in our country, and crime is going to decrease dramatically because he has given us a directive to make America safe again. “These people need to be locked up as long as they can, as long as the law allows. We’re not going to let them go anywhere, and if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it.” However, immigration law experts say the plan would not be legal. “No, he [Trump] can’t send US citizens to El Salvador,” human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith told Al Jazeera. Advertisement Bruce