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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DHS Using Drones Capable of Surveillance Amid L.A. Protests
Police arrest dozens of protesters during a protest over immigration raids near the City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on June 11, 2025. Credit - Tayfun Coskun—Anadolu via Getty The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using drones during the protests in Los Angeles, the department has confirmed, further fueling controversy surrounding the escalating law enforcement response to the demonstrations that broke out as immigration raids occurred throughout the city. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), an agency within DHS, confirmed on Thursday that it is providing 'aerial support' to law enforcement. "Air and Marine Operations (AMO) is providing aerial support to federal law enforcement partners conducting operations in the Greater Los Angeles area. AMO's efforts are focused on situational awareness and officer safety support as requested,' a CBP spokesperson told TIME via email. DHS shared footage of the protests shot with a drone on social media earlier in the week. 'WATCH: DHS drone footage of LA rioters,' the department wrote via an X post on June 10, which included video of cars burning and an apparent explosion accompanied by sinister music. 'California politicians must call off their rioting mob.' The protests in Los Angeles have been predominantly peaceful as they enter their seventh day, media on the ground has reported, though some have escalated as cars have been set on fire and projectiles have been thrown. Despite that, President Donald Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard members and is mobilizing hundreds of Marines to the area, against the wishes of state and local leaders. Local law enforcement has also used crowd control tactics such as rubber bullets and tear gas, and Mayor Karen Bass has declared a state of 'local emergency' and imposed an ongoing 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. curfew. Read More: Veterans Condemn Trump's 'Misuse of Military Power' Amid L.A. Protests Since the protests began on Friday, more than 160 people have been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The majority of those arrests, according to the New York Times, occurred on Monday, and a majority of them were based on failure to disperse charges. CBP confirmed to 404 media that the drones used by the agency were two Predator drones after the media company reported that drones were spotted flying without call signs where the anti-ICE protests were occurring. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed reports of the drones in a June 11 hearing with Congress. Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed asked Hegseth if he was prepared for DHS to use drones to 'to detain or arrest American citizens.' 'Every authorization we've provided the National Guard and the Marines in Los Angeles is under the authority of the President of the United States,' Hegseth answered. According to Alejandra Montoya-Boyer, senior director of the Center for Civil Rights & Technology at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, tech groups and civil rights groups alike are "surprised and deeply concerned' by the use of drones, but it is not "necessarily new.' 'CBP has a pretty expansive opportunity to be able to deploy drone technology and other technologies that are able to surveil and track anyone, whether they're crossing the border or in these spaces,' Montoya-Boyer tells TIME. She says 'this isn't necessarily the first time we're seeing this,' but noted that it could still be harmful and 'disproportionately impacting communities of color and immigrants right now.' She says people are often unaware of the extent of land that CBP has access to—100 air miles from any external boundary of the U.S, a border zone that almost two-thirds of the U.S. population lives within. Montoya-Boyer says that the technology used by these drones was created to track border crossings, not to be used to track U.S. citizens at protests. 'The reality is, with the development of these types of technologies, and with appropriations by CBP and DHS, they can be used for domestic surveillance and as needed by an administration that isn't necessarily doing what's usual,' she says. Though the CBP has stated that the drones are focused on 'situational awareness' and 'officer safety,' Montoyta-Boyers says there 'is no reason for us to believe that it is just in the name of law and order' as 'there is an increase, an expansion of surveillance technologies in the name of immigration enforcement being deployed all across the country on the majority of people, whether they're immigrants or not She recommends those who decide to lawfully and peacefully protest to access both the ACLU's and Electronic Frontier Foundation's guides to what protestors' rights are. This is not the first time that drones have been used during U.S. protests in support of law enforcement efforts. Back in 2020, CBP utilized drones at the height of protests in the Black Lives Matter movement spurred by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. At the time, however, CBP argued that its drones were not being used to 'surveil' protestors, but rather to provide 'assistance to state and locals so they could make sure that their cities and their towns were protected,' according to Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan in a 2020 interview with ABC News. "We were not providing any resources to surveil lawful peaceful protesters. That's not what we were doing," he said. 'We weren't taking any information on law-abiding protesters, but we were absolutely there to ensure the safety of folks there as well as to enforce, and make sure law and order remain.' Contact us at letters@
Time Magazine
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
U.S. Immigration Agency Using Drones Capable of Surveillance During L.A. Protests
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using drones during the protests in Los Angeles, the department has confirmed, further fueling controversy surrounding the escalating law enforcement response to the demonstrations that broke out as immigration raids occurred throughout the city. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), an agency within DHS, confirmed on Thursday that it is providing 'aerial support' to law enforcement. "Air and Marine Operations (AMO) is providing aerial support to federal law enforcement partners conducting operations in the Greater Los Angeles area. AMO's efforts are focused on situational awareness and officer safety support as requested,' a CBP spokesperson told TIME via email. DHS shared footage of the protests shot with a drone on social media earlier in the week. 'WATCH: DHS drone footage of LA rioters,' the department wrote via an X post on June 10, which included video of cars burning and an apparent explosion accompanied by sinister music. 'California politicians must call off their rioting mob.' The protests in Los Angeles have been predominantly peaceful as they enter their seventh day, media on the ground has reported, though some have escalated as cars have been set on fire and projectiles have been thrown. Despite that, President Donald Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard members and is mobilizing hundreds of Marines to the area, against the wishes of state and local leaders. Local law enforcement has also used crowd control tactics such as rubber bullets and tear gas, and Mayor Karen Bass has declared a state of 'local emergency' and imposed an ongoing 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. curfew. Since the protests began on Friday, more than 160 people have been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The majority of those arrests, according to the New York Times, occurred on Monday, and a majority of them were based on failure to disperse charges. CBP confirmed to 404 media that the drones used by the agency were two Predator drones after the media company reported that drones were spotted flying without call signs where the anti-ICE protests were occurring. Does DHS have the authority to use drones? Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed reports of the drones in a June 11 hearing with Congress. Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed asked Hegseth if he was prepared for DHS to use drones to 'to detain or arrest American citizens.' 'Every authorization we've provided the National Guard and the Marines in Los Angeles is under the authority of the President of the United States,' Hegseth answered. According to Alejandra Montoya-Boyer, senior director of the Center for Civil Rights & Technology at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, tech groups and civil rights groups alike are "surprised and deeply concerned' by the use of drones, but it is not "necessarily new.' 'CBP has a pretty expansive opportunity to be able to deploy drone technology and other technologies that are able to surveil and track anyone, whether they're crossing the border or in these spaces,' Montoya-Boyer tells TIME. She says 'this isn't necessarily the first time we're seeing this,' but noted that it could still be harmful and 'disproportionately impacting communities of color and immigrants right now.' She says people are often unaware of the extent of land that CBP has access to—100 air miles from any external boundary of the U.S, a border zone that almost two-thirds of the U.S. population lives within. Montoya-Boyer says that the technology used by these drones was created to track border crossings, not to be used to track U.S. citizens at protests. 'The reality is, with the development of these types of technologies, and with appropriations by CBP and DHS, they can be used for domestic surveillance and as needed by an administration that isn't necessarily doing what's usual,' she says. Though the CBP has stated that the drones are focused on 'situational awareness' and 'officer safety,' Montoyta-Boyers says there 'is no reason for us to believe that it is just in the name of law and order' as 'there is an increase, an expansion of surveillance technologies in the name of immigration enforcement being deployed all across the country on the majority of people, whether they're immigrants or not She recommends those who decide to lawfully and peacefully protest to access both the ACLU 's and Electronic Frontier Foundation 's guides to what protestors' rights are. Have drones been used during previous U.S. protests? This is not the first time that drones have been used during U.S. protests in support of law enforcement efforts. Back in 2020, CBP utilized drones at the height of protests in the Black Lives Matter movement spurred by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. At the time, however, CBP argued that its drones were not being used to 'surveil' protestors, but rather to provide 'assistance to state and locals so they could make sure that their cities and their towns were protected,' according to Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan in a 2020 interview with ABC News. "We were not providing any resources to surveil lawful peaceful protesters. That's not what we were doing," he said. 'We weren't taking any information on law-abiding protesters, but we were absolutely there to ensure the safety of folks there as well as to enforce, and make sure law and order remain.'
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Cory Booker host a sit-in on Capitol steps over the GOP budget plan
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., hosted hundreds of supporters at the Capitol on Sunday, sitting on the steps in protest of Republicans' upcoming push to pass a budget reconciliation bill they hope will cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending. 'That bill, we believe, presents one of the greatest moral threats to our country that we've seen in terms of what it will do to providing food for the hungry, care for the elderly, services for the disabled, health care, health care for the sick and more,' Booker said at the beginning of the sit-in. Democrats have for months warned that House Republicans' budget blueprint would lead to over $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, a federal program that provides health insurance for low-income families. Booker and Jeffries spoke at the beginning of the sit-in, which began around 6 a.m., about their religious upbringings, saying they would usually be attending services on Sunday morning but instead were hosting the conversation on the Capitol steps. 'Martin Luther King said, 'Budgets are moral documents,' and that's the spirit we come here with this morning,' Booker said before he urged supporters to join the two men online or in person. The New Jersey senator called on supporters to 'give your own testimony to your moral urgency that you feel, to maybe your faith traditions or moral traditions that ... motivate you at this moment to speak out, maybe share your story of what the threat of this bill does to you and your lives.' Early in the day, Jeffries also pointed out that they were hosting the sit-in on Booker's birthday. After wishing the senator a happy birthday, the minority leader told him, 'I'm sure you didn't expect last year, when thinking about this birthday, that I would be your birthday date in this location, but this of course is the moment that we find ourselves in.' Jeffries also brought a message for House Republicans, saying, 'Enough. This is not America. We will continue to show up, speak up and stand up until we end this national nightmare.' Ahead of Monday, when congressional lawmakers will return from a two-week recess, Jeffries said Democrats were preparing to face 'an existential struggle to defeat Republican efforts to try to jam a very reckless budget down the throats of the American people.' Dozens joined Jeffries and Booker on the Capitol steps, where they sat in the sunshine for over nine hours speaking about their faith traditions and the upcoming budget fight. Some were rank-and-file supporters of congressional Democrats, while others were higher-profile progressive leaders, like Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 'The [budget] cuts, when we're talking about cuts, people bleed and we should put names behind them,' Wiley told the crowd. 'You know, Sarah in South Dakota had a son who has seizures one to five times a day, had to quit her job to try to save her son. It is Medicaid that helps pay for her health care to do that. Or Jasmine in Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, with two kids, who was taking care of other people's children when she fell and became disabled, and it's Medicaid that was taking care of her.' Several faith leaders and fellow Democratic lawmakers, like Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., also spoke over the course of the sit-in, which was still ongoing Sunday afternoon. Booker is no stranger to speaking for hours in opposition to Republicans and the Trump administration. Earlier this month, he stood on the Senate floor and spoke for over 25 hours against the Trump administration, breaking the record for the longest speech in Senate history. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court ruling further complicates Trump's anti-DEI push
President Trump's plans to rid the country's education system of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) were thrown further into chaos this week when a judge ruled against the Education Department's directives. States, fiercely divided on the issue, were already dealing with a delayed certification deadline and murky enforcement mechanisms before federal Judge Landya McCafferty issued her preliminary injunction on Trump's anti-DEI measures. 'Thankfully, many schools and districts and colleges and universities have been waiting to see what would happen because they knew and understood that what they were being asked to do was blatantly unlawful and nonsensical,' said Liz King, senior director of education equity at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 'And so, hopefully this gives the assurance that schools need that they should not be bending to the whims of this administration,' King added. On Feb. 14, the Department of Education sent a 'Dear Colleague' letter to universities, saying they could risk losing federal funding if they do not get rid of DEI efforts. Weeks later, state education and K-12 district leaders were told they needed to certify their schools had no DEI programs or also risk losing federal funding. The Education Department also created a 'DEI portal' to allow parents and others to report programs or initiatives they feel are in violation of Trump's executive orders. All these efforts resulted in lawsuits and were blocked by three judges on Thursday, including two that were appointed by Trump. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, called the efforts unconstitutionally vague and said the letter did not 'delineate between a lawful DEI practice and an unlawful one.' The Education Department is likely to appeal the decision, with supporters encouraging it to get more specific when it does. 'As part of the appeal, my guess is that they are going to point […] at the actual practices that result in racial discrimination,' said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman senior research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation. 'From teacher trainings to types of programs that compel or ask someone to state that they are oppressive based on their skin color or otherwise […] some sort of racial favoritism,' Butcher added. 'Frankly, it's a step in the process.' The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment. The lack of clarity on DEI in schools has been an issue since Education Secretary Linda McMahon's confirmation hearing, where she was unable to say if classes focusing on Black history would be allowed under her leadership. In the case of the 'Dear Colleague' letter, the department had to send out a follow-up memo after some universities were unclear if the guidance meant student groups based on race or ethnicity were still allowed. Meanwhile, multiple blue states were openly refusing to certify that their schools were DEI-free. 'As noted at the outset, MDE [Minnesota Department of Education] has already provided the requisite guarantee that it has and will comply with Title VI and its implementing regulation, and that includes our assurance that we do and will comply with Supreme Court cases interpreting the same. We submit this letter to serve as our response to this specific request,' Minnesota wrote to the federal government. The Department of Education is seeking to expand on the 2023 affirmative action Supreme Court ruling that said universities could not take race into account in admissions, holding that the decision reaches beyond the student application process. 'Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI,' Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, wrote in the K-12 certification letter. Federal funding only makes up around 10 percent of money that goes to K-12 schools, although lower-income districts get a bit more help. At universities, the Trump administration has shown it is not afraid to pull millions or even billions of dollars in federal funding from schools it alleges have committed civil rights violations, even before any investigation takes place. One of those schools, Harvard University, is suing the administration over funding cuts that were announced after it refused to bow to a list of demands from Trump, including eliminating DEI policies. The day after the suit was filed, the leaders of more than 100 colleges and universities, including Cornell, Tufts and Princeton, issued a joint letter condemning Trump's 'political interference' and 'coercive use of public research funding.' But as some colleges have lost funding, others have preemptively began dismantling some of their DEI efforts. The University of Michigan said last month it would be closing its DEI offices. 'I understand the fear […] They've basically been blackmailing institutions with federal funds. They've created deliberate chaos with the [executive orders] and vague instructions so that people are preemptively complying with things,' said Andrea Abrams, executive director of the Defending American Values Coalition. 'The reasons [they] are afraid are sound, but the reasons to be brave are also sound,' she added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Court ruling further complicates Trump's anti-DEI push
President Trump's plans to rid the country's education system of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) were thrown further into chaos this week when a judge ruled against the Education Department's directives. States, fiercely divided on the issue, were already dealing with a delayed certification deadline and murky enforcement mechanisms before federal Judge Landya McCafferty issued her preliminary injunction on Trump's anti-DEI measures. 'Thankfully, many schools and districts and colleges and universities have been waiting to see what would happen because they knew and understood that what they were being asked to do was blatantly unlawful and nonsensical,' said Liz King, senior director of education equity at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 'And so, hopefully this gives the assurance that schools need that they should not be bending to the whims of this administration,' King added. On Feb. 14, the Department of Education sent a 'Dear Colleague' letter to universities, saying they could risk losing federal funding if they do not get rid of DEI efforts. Weeks later, state education and K-12 district leaders were told they needed to certify their schools had no DEI programs or also risk losing federal funding. The Education Department also created a 'DEI portal' to allow parents and others to report programs or initiatives they feel are in violation of Trump's executive orders. All these efforts resulted in lawsuits and were blocked by three judges on Thursday, including two that were appointed by Trump. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, called the efforts unconstitutionally vague and said the letter did not 'delineate between a lawful DEI practice and an unlawful one.' The Education Department is likely to appeal the decision, with supporters encouraging it to get more specific when it does. 'As part of the appeal, my guess is that they are going to point […] at the actual practices that result in racial discrimination,' said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman senior research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation. 'From teacher trainings to types of programs that compel or ask someone to state that they are oppressive based on their skin color or otherwise […] some sort of racial favoritism,' Butcher added. 'Frankly, it's a step in the process.' The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment. The lack of clarity on DEI in schools has been an issue since Education Secretary Linda McMahon's confirmation hearing, where she was unable to say if classes focusing on Black history would be allowed under her leadership. In the case of the 'Dear Colleague' letter, the department had to send out a follow-up memo after some universities were unclear if the guidance meant student groups based on race or ethnicity were still allowed. Meanwhile, multiple blue states were openly refusing to certify that their schools were DEI-free. 'As noted at the outset, MDE [Minnesota Department of Education] has already provided the requisite guarantee that it has and will comply with Title VI and its implementing regulation, and that includes our assurance that we do and will comply with Supreme Court cases interpreting the same. We submit this letter to serve as our response to this specific request,' Minnesota wrote to the federal government. The Department of Education is seeking to expand on the 2023 affirmative action Supreme Court ruling that said universities could not take race into account in admissions, holding that the decision reaches beyond the student application process. 'Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI,' Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, wrote in the K-12 certification letter. Federal funding only makes up around 10 percent of money that goes to K-12 schools, although lower-income districts get a bit more help. At universities, the Trump administration has shown it is not afraid to pull millions or even billions of dollars in federal funding from schools it alleges have committed civil rights violations, even before any investigation takes place. One of those schools, Harvard University, is suing the administration over funding cuts that were announced after it refused to bow to a list of demands from Trump, including eliminating DEI policies. The day after the suit was filed, the leaders of more than 100 colleges and universities, including Cornell, Tufts and Princeton, issued a joint letter condemning Trump's 'political interference' and 'coercive use of public research funding.' But as some colleges have lost funding, others have preemptively began dismantling some of their DEI efforts. The University of Michigan said last month it would be closing its DEI offices. 'I understand the fear […] They've basically been blackmailing institutions with federal funds. They've created deliberate chaos with the [executive orders] and vague instructions so that people are preemptively complying with things,' said Andrea Abrams, executive director of the Defending American Values Coalition. 'The reasons [they] are afraid are sound, but the reasons to be brave are also sound,' she added.
