Protests over immigration raids pop up across the US with more planned

Protests over immigration raids pop up across the US with more planned
People protest against federal immigration sweeps, near the US immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, in New York City, US, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 11 June 2025

Protests over immigration raids pop up across the US with more planned

Protests over immigration raids pop up across the US with more planned
  • The Trump administration said it would continue its program of raids and deportations despite the protests

AUSTIN, Texas: Protests that sprang up in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement raids and prompted President Donald Trump to mobilize National Guard troops and Marines have begun to spread across the country, with more planned into the weekend.
From Seattle and Austin to Chicago and Washington, D.C., marchers have chanted slogans, carried signs against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and snarled traffic through downtown avenues and outside federal offices. While many have been peaceful, some have resulted in clashes with law enforcement as officers made arrests and used chemical irritants to disperse crowds.
Activists are planning more and even larger demonstrations in the coming days, with “No Kings” events across the country on Saturday to coincide with Trump’s planned military parade through Washington.
The Trump administration said it would continue its program of raids and deportations despite the protests.
“ICE will continue to enforce the law,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted Tuesday on social media.
A look at some protests across the country:
San Francisco
About 200 protesters gathered outside the San Francisco Immigration Court on Tuesday after activists said several arrests were made there.
That gathering came after protests on Sunday and Monday swelled to several thousand demonstrators and saw more than 150 arrests with outbreaks of violence that included vandalized buildings, and damaged cars, police vehicles and buses. Police said two officers suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Most of the arrests were Sunday night.
“Individuals are always free to exercise their First Amendment rights in San Francisco, but violence, especially against SFPD officers, will never be tolerated,” San Francisco police posted on social media.
Police described Monday’s march as “overwhelmingly peaceful,” but said “two small groups broke off and committed vandalism and other criminal acts.” Several people were detained or arrested, police said.
Seattle
About 50 people gathered outside the immigration court in downtown Seattle on Tuesday, chanting with drums and holding up signs that said, “Free Them All; Abolish ICE” and “No to Deportations.” Protesters began putting scooters in front of building entryways before police arrived.
Mathieu Chabaud, with Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Washington, said they were there in solidarity with the Los Angeles protesters, “and to show that we’re opposed to ICE in our community.”
Legal advocates who normally attend the immigration court hearings as observers and to provide support to immigrants were not allowed inside the building. Security guards also turned away the media. The hearings are normally open to the public.
New York City
A mass of people rallied in lower Manhattan on Tuesday evening to protest deportations and federal immigration policy.
Demonstrators gathered outside two federal buildings that house immigration courts and began marching amid a heavy police presence.
Some protesters held signs reading “ICE out of New York” and others chanted, “Why are you in riot gear? I don’t see no riot here.”
New York City police said multiple people were taken into custody. There were no immediate charges.
Chicago
In Chicago, a small crowd gathered Tuesday outside immigration court in downtown and called for an end to Trump administration immigration sweeps and military presence in California.
“With the militarization of Los Angeles it’s time to get out and let Trump know this is unacceptable,” said retiree Gary Snyderman. “All of this is so unconstitutional.”
The group then marched through downtown streets drumming and chanting, “No more deportations!”
The demonstration had grown to at least a thousand protesters by late Tuesday, remaining relatively peaceful with limited engagement between the group and police officers.
Denver
A group of protesters gathered in front of the Colorado state capitol in Denver on Tuesday, creating a sea of cardboard signs, one exhorting: “Show your faces. ICE cowards.”
The group, inspired by the Los Angeles protests over the past several days, split in half, marching down two different thoroughfares and crowding out traffic.
A large police presence wasn’t seen initially, but a few officers began blocking a street behind the the marchers.
Santa Ana
In Santa Ana near Los Angeles, armored vehicles blocked the road Tuesday morning leading into the Civic Center, where federal immigration officers and numerous city and county agencies have their offices.
Workers swept up plastic bottles and broken glass from Monday’s protests. Tiny shards of red, black and purple glass littered the pavement. Nearby buildings and the sidewalk were tagged with profane graffiti slogans against ICE and had Trump’s name crossed out. A worker rolled paint over graffiti on a wall to block it out.
National Guard officers wearing fatigues and carrying rifles prevented people from entering the area unless they worked there.
While a small group kept up their demonstration Tuesday, several counter-protesters showed up. One man wore a red T-shirt and Make America Great Again cap as he exchanged words with the crowd opposing the raids.
Austin
Four Austin police officers were injured and authorities used chemical irritants to disperse a crowd of several hundred demonstrators Monday night that moved between the state Capitol and a federal building that houses an ICE office. State officials had closed the Capitol to the public an hour early in anticipation of the protest.
Austin police used pepper spray balls and state police used tear gas when demonstrators began trying to deface the federal building with spray paint. The demonstrators then started throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at a police barricade, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said. Three officers were injured by “very large” rocks and another was injured while making an arrest, she said.
Austin police arrested eight people, and state police arrested five more. Davis said her department is prepared for Saturday’s planned protest downtown.
“We support peaceful protest,” Davis said. “When that protest turns violent, when it turns to throwing rocks and bottles ... that will not be tolerated. Arrests will be made.”
Dallas
A protest that drew hundreds to a rally on a city bridge lasted for several hours Monday night before Dallas police declared it an “unlawful assembly” and warned people to leave or face possible arrest.
Dallas police initially posted on social media that officers would not interfere with a “lawful and peaceful assembly of individuals or groups expressing their First Amendment rights.” But officers later moved in and media reported seeing some in the crowd throw objects as officers used pepper spray and smoke to clear the area. At least one person was arrested.
“Peaceful protesting is legal,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, posted on X. “But once you cross the line, you will be arrested.”
Boston
Hundreds of people gathered in Boston’s City Hall Plaza on Monday to protest the detainment of union leader David Huerta Friday during immigration raids in Los Angeles.
Protesters held signs reading “Massachusetts stands with our neighbors in Los Angeles” and “Protect our immigrant neighbors,” and shouted, “Come for one, come for all” and “Free David, free them all.”
Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California, was released from federal custody later Monday on $50,000 bond.
“An immigrant doesn’t stand between an American worker and a good job, a billionaire does,” said Chrissy Lynch, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
Washington, DC
Several unions gathered Monday in Washington to protest the raids and rally for Huerta’s release, and marched past the Department of Justice building.
Among the demonstrators was US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state.
“Enough of these mass ICE raids that are sweeping up innocent people,” Jayapal said. “As we see people exercising the constitutional rights to peacefully use their voices to speak out against this injustice, they are being met with tear gas and rubber bullets.”


Australia’s Albanese confident on AUKUS pact after meeting UK’s Starmer

Australia’s Albanese confident on AUKUS pact after meeting UK’s Starmer
Updated 27 September 2025

Australia’s Albanese confident on AUKUS pact after meeting UK’s Starmer

Australia’s Albanese confident on AUKUS pact after meeting UK’s Starmer

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed confidence on Friday that the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal with the US and Britain would move forward, after meeting his British counterpart, Keir Starmer.
Speaking in London, Albanese said the meeting was a chance to discuss the “strongly building” support for AUKUS between the two allies but would not be drawn on the position of US President Donald Trump.
The AUKUS pact, sealed in 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
Trump’s administration is undertaking a formal AUKUS review led by Elbridge Colby, a top Pentagon policy official and public critic of the agreement.
Asked if his meeting with Starmer gave him increased confidence that AUKUS would proceed, Albanese said: “I have always been confident about AUKUS going ahead.
“Every meeting I’ve had and discussions I’ve had with people in the US administration have always been positive about AUKUS,” he said, according to an official transcript.
Under AUKUS — worth hundreds of billions of dollars — Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra, while Britain and Australia will later build a new AUKUS-class submarine.
Australia and Britain signed a treaty in July to bolster cooperation over the next 50 years on AUKUS.
During his visit, Albanese is also expected to meet with King Charles, Australia’s official head of state.


Venezuela at UN seeks support against US ‘threat’

Venezuela at UN seeks support against US ‘threat’
Updated 27 September 2025

Venezuela at UN seeks support against US ‘threat’

Venezuela at UN seeks support against US ‘threat’
  • US President Donald Trump has deployed eight warships and a nuclear-powered submarine to the southern Caribbean as part of a stated plan to combat drug trafficking

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Venezuela called Friday at the United Nations for solidarity against the “threat” of the United States, which has carried out deadly strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats.
“As they can’t accuse Venezuela of having weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons, they’re making up vulgar and perverse lies that no one believes, neither in the United States nor around the world, to justify an atrocious, extravagant and immoral multi-billion-dollar military threat,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said in an address to the General Assembly.
“We would like to thank the governments and peoples of the world, including from the United States, for denouncing this attempt to wage war,” he said.
US President Donald Trump has deployed eight warships and a nuclear-powered submarine to the southern Caribbean as part of a stated plan to combat drug trafficking.
US forces have destroyed at least three suspected drug boats in the Caribbean in recent weeks, killing over a dozen people in a move decried as “extrajudicial execution” by UN experts.
The United States has also refused an appeal for dialogue by President Nicolas Maduro, a firebrand leftist not recognized by the United States after wide allegations of irregularities in his last election.
Maduro and his late predecessor Hugo Chavez had once been regular presences at the annual week of leaders’ meetings at the United Nations.
Maduro did not come this year, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing him as a fugitive from justice over a US indictment on drug-trafficking allegations.

 


New Zealand says it will not recognize state of Palestine at this time

New Zealand says it will not recognize state of Palestine at this time
Updated 27 September 2025

New Zealand says it will not recognize state of Palestine at this time

New Zealand says it will not recognize state of Palestine at this time
  • New Zealand’s position is out of step with traditional partners Australia, Canada and Britain who all recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday
  • “There is no two-state solution or enduring peace in the Middle East without recognition of Palestine as a state,” Henare said

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in New York on Friday that New Zealand will not recognize the State of Palestine at this time but remains committed to a two-state solution.
“With a war raging, Hamas remaining the de facto government of Gaza, and no clarity on next steps, too many questions remain about the future state of Palestine for it to be prudent for New Zealand to announce recognition at this time,” Peters said in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
“We are also concerned that a focus on recognition, in the current circumstances, could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire by pushing Israel and Hamas into even more intransigent positions,” Peters added.
New Zealand’s position is out of step with traditional partners Australia, Canada and Britain who all recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday. The move aligned them with more than 140 other countries also backing Palestinians’ aspiration to forge an independent homeland from the occupied territories.
A handout from the New Zealand government on Friday said that it hoped to recognize a Palestinian state at a time when the situation on the ground offers greater prospects for peace and negotiation than at present.
New Zealand’s opposition Labour Party criticized the decision and said it would put the country on the wrong side of history.
Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said New Zealand will feel let down by the government today.
“There is no two-state solution or enduring peace in the Middle East without recognition of Palestine as a state,” Henare said. 

 


US reverses Ghana visa curbs as country becomes deportation hub

US reverses Ghana visa curbs as country becomes deportation hub
Updated 27 September 2025

US reverses Ghana visa curbs as country becomes deportation hub

US reverses Ghana visa curbs as country becomes deportation hub
  • Ghanaians can now be eligible for five-year multiple entry visas

ACCRA: The United States has reversed its visa restrictions on Ghana, its foreign minister said Friday, as the west African nation emerges as a key deportation hub in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Earlier this month, Ghanaian President John Mahama revealed that the country was accepting west Africans deported by the United States.
US President Donald Trump has made so-called “third-country” deportations a hallmark of his anti-immigration crackdown, sending people to countries where they have no ties or family.
Accra has insisted it has received nothing in return for taking in the deportees, though Mahama acknowledged that the deal was struck as relations were “tightening,” with Washington imposing tariffs as well as visa restrictions in recent months.
“The US visa restrictions imposed on Ghana” have been “reversed,” Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said.
In a post on X, Ablakwa said the “good news” was delivered by US officials on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The reversal was the result of “months of high-level diplomatic negotiations,” Ablakwa said.
In June, the United States announced restrictions on most visas for nationals from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria, restricting them to three months and a single entry.
“Ghanaians can now be eligible for five-year multiple entry visas and other enhanced consular privileges,” Ablakwa said.
At least 14 west Africans have been sent to Ghana since the beginning of September, though neither Accra nor Washington has made details of the arrangement public.
They all had won protection from US immigration courts against being deported to their home nations, their lawyers said, even as Ghana has forwarded on at least four to their country of origin, according to an AFP tally.
After weeks of detention in Ghana, allegedly under military guard and in poor conditions, eight to 10 of the deportees were abruptly sent to Togo last weekend and left to fend for themselves, US-based lawyer Meredyth Yoon told AFP.
Another plane able to carry 14 people has since arrived in Ghana, Yoon said, though it was unclear how many people were on it.
Ghana has said it is accepting west Africans on humanitarian grounds and that the deal is not an “endorsement” of US immigration policy.


NGO says Libyan patrol vessel shot at migrant rescue ship in the Med

NGO says Libyan patrol vessel shot at migrant rescue ship in the Med
Updated 27 September 2025

NGO says Libyan patrol vessel shot at migrant rescue ship in the Med

NGO says Libyan patrol vessel shot at migrant rescue ship in the Med
  • Sea-Watch said the Libyan Ubari 660 Corrubia Class patrol boat had ordered the crew via radio to turn north while the rescue operation was ongoing

ROME: A Sea-Watch migrant rescue ship came under fire from a Libyan patrol vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, the organization said on Friday, highlighting escalating threats during recent operations.
Sea-Watch, which comes to the aid of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, said there were no injuries.
The volunteer organization said the attack happened overnight from Thursday to Friday, shortly after its ship, the Sea-Watch 5, had rescued 66 people.
“The so-called Libyan coast guard fired live ammunition,” it said in a statement on its website, demanding an immediate investigation and action from the European Union.
Sea-Watch said the Libyan Ubari 660 Corrubia Class patrol boat had ordered the crew via radio to turn north while the rescue operation was ongoing.
To do so would have meant aborting the rescue, it said.
“The militia then approached the ship and eventually fired live ammunition at it. The crew and those rescued were unharmed,” it added.
“After being fired upon, the crew of the Sea-Watch 5 sent out a Mayday relay and informed the relevant authorities and the German federal police.”
Sea-Watch said the number of attacks by Libyan “militia” has intensified in recent months.
On August 24, the rescue ship Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Mediterranee, was fired at. The NGO said “hundreds of bullets” were used and the attack happened after it had rescued 87 people in international waters.
Sea-Watch said the Libyan patrol boat was given to the Libyan coast guard in 2018 as part of a deal the previous year in which Rome and the EU provided financial, technical and material support to intercept migrants and return them to the north African country.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Giorgia Linardi, said the Libyan attacks were a “direct consequence” of European policies.
“It’s unacceptable that the Italian government and the EU allows criminal militia to fire on civilians,” she added.
Charities supporting migrants regularly criticize the situation in Libya, claiming that those seeking to leave are victims of discrimination, racism and violence.