Latest news with #Molotov
The Hill
18 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Appeals court allows Trump to keep National Guard deployed, for now
A federal appeals court panel late Thursday allowed President Trump to keep the National Guard deployed in Los Angeles, for now. The three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously extended its pause of a judge's order finding Trump's deployment illegal and forcing him to return control of the troops to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). 'We emphasize, however, that our decision addresses only the facts before us. And although we hold that the President likely has authority to federalize the National Guard, nothing in our decision addresses the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage,' the appeals panel wrote in its unsigned, 38-page decision. The panel said it disagreed with the administration that Trump's decision isn't reviewable by the courts, but the judges acknowledged they must be 'highly deferential.' 'Affording the President that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority,' the opinion reads. Trump has sent in thousands of National Guard troops to protect immigration officers in the wake of recent protests in Los Angeles, which at times have devolved into violence. The move quickly sparked a lawsuit from Newsom and the state's attorney general. Though the 9th Circuit's decision marks a victory for Trump in the legal battle, it may be short-lived. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who issued last week's decision invalidating the deployment, is set to hold a hearing Friday on whether to issue an indefinite injunction. Breyer is an appointee of former President Clinton and the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. In deploying the troops, Trump cited a statute that allows him to federalize the National Guard whenever there is a rebellion or when he cannot execute federal laws with regular forces. The appeals panel on Thursday said it agreed the latter trigger was likely met, so it didn't need to reach the question of whether there was a rebellion. 'Plaintiffs' own submissions state that some protesters threw objects, including Molotov cocktails, and vandalized property. According to the declarations submitted by Defendants, those activities significantly impeded the ability of federal officers to execute the laws,' the opinion reads. The three-judge appeals panel comprised two Trump-nominated judges, Mark Bennett and Eric Miller, and Judge Jennifer Sung, an appointee of former President Biden. The 9th Circuit also rejected Newsom's argument that Trump failed a statutory requirement to issue his deployment order 'through' the governor. Newsom contended it established a requirement that he consent, but the appeals panel said notifying the adjutant general of the California National Guard was likely sufficient. The panel stressed the statute 'does not give governors any veto power over the President's federalization decision.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
California police plead for help amid officer shortage as union boss warns of unprecedented riot ‘onslaught'
As the protests against Los Angeles' immigration raids spread, state law enforcement leaders are sounding the alarm on the dangers facing officers on the front lines of the riots. "I've been around a very long time, and I have seen similar to what we're facing now," Jake Johnson, president of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen (CAHP), told Fox News Digital. "But I've never seen the amount of onslaught." Thousands of protesters descended on Los Angeles in the last two weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers began conducting raids throughout the sanctuary city. The violence included rioters hurling projectiles at law enforcement officers and lighting numerous self-driving electric vehicles on fire. La-area Mayors Plead With Trump Admin To Stop Ice Immigration Arrests In response to the protests, over 640 highway patrol officers have been sent to Los Angeles. Additionally, nearly 400 additional CHP Special Response Team officers have been deployed to aid law enforcement. "There's hundreds of state troopers [and] highway patrolmen that are deployed in both the Bay Area and particularly in Los Angeles," Johnson said. "[They] are working very long hours, anywhere from 16 to 20 hours a day, trying to keep the peace down there. It's been a very dangerous situation." Read On The Fox News App Los Angeles police have made more than 500 arrests related to protest activity, with the most serious charges ranging from assault against police officers to possession of a Molotov cocktail and gun, according to the police department. Nine police officers have been injured in the protests, with the majority being minor injuries. The LAPD and CHP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Trump Takes Action Against 'Orchestrated Attack' On Law Enforcement By Deploying Marines To La: Assemblyman Several CHP cars were damaged along the 101 Freeway as officers tried to clear protesters from the road, marking yet another assault on law enforcement operations in the midst of the riots. "I witnessed one of our officers get hit in the head with a rock," Johnson said. "Had he not had his helmet and mask on, [there is] no doubt in my mind he would have been killed. It smacked him right in the face and he was actually pulled to safety by an [officer] I know very well." While on the ground, CHP officers are faced with the task of identifying in real-time who is following the law and who is looking to break it, a situation that Johnson called "very difficult." "The persons that are down there participating in their First Amendment rights are quickly overtaken by these bad actors that are definitely in the crowd," Johnson told Fox News Digital. "There's a significant amount of them in the crowd, and it really takes over the peaceful protests that there are hundreds of people participating in. It really turns these into bad situations where now we have to decide who's a peaceful protester and who is a bad actor." Dozens Of Anti-ice Rioters Arrested In La As Trump Sends In National Guard To Quell Violence Johnson believes the answer to ensuring the safety of both law enforcement and demonstrators who may be acting peacefully is by civilians reporting sightings of violent protesters to police. "It's time to start turning these people in," Johnson said. "It's time to start recording them, getting information for the crimes that you see committed and turning them in to the police." The call for cooperation between peaceful protesters and law enforcement comes as an appeals court blocked a federal judge's decision forcing President Donald Trump to return control over National Guard troops to California last Thursday. Rioters Smash Windows At Lapd Headquarters As Anti-ice Agitators Clash With Authorities Trump has deployed more than 4,000 Guard soldiers to Los Angeles, along with roughly 700 Marines, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman said. The appeals court declined to rule on the status of the Marines, since they had not taken to the streets yet. In a post on Truth Social, Trump thanked the appeals court for its ruling, writing: "If I didn't send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now." Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom continue to clash in a legal battle over control of the National Guard and the troops' role in the riots. Chuck Devore: Trump Moves Fast To Save La From A 1992 Repeat The Guard has been sent to protect federal property and accompany officials on immigration raids. While the troops do have the ability to temporarily detain people who attack officers, any arrests must be made by law enforcement. "As far as the interaction with [the National Guard], I haven't seen any interaction with them," Johnson said. "For the three or four nights I was out there, I didn't see any National Guard. I saw what [was] on the news. They're guarding federal facilities, but they haven't been integrated with any of us." Johnson leads a union that represents approximately 7,000 patrolmen deployed throughout the state. However, he points to staffing shortages caused by attractive retirement packages, leaving a gaping hole in the department's headcount. "We're almost down one thousand bodies for highway patrolmen in California," Johnson said, adding, "We have a really hard time filling in the positions." As the anti-ICE protests stretch into their second week, law enforcement throughout Los Angeles is bracing for the unknown. "When you're out there and it's a very dangerous situation, you don't think about the politics or your personal politics," Johnson said. "Cops are very good at that. I've been around these guys for decades and they're my brothers and sisters. And I know they're very, very good people. And although they might have their personal views, it doesn't spill over into these situations." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Original article source: California police plead for help amid officer shortage as union boss warns of unprecedented riot 'onslaught'
NBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Judge says hate crime prosecution in Boulder, Colorado, attack can proceed
DENVER — A federal judge said Wednesday that prosecutors can proceed with a hate crime charge against a man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a group of people demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, appeared in federal court in Denver for a preliminary hearing following the June 1 attack in Boulder that injured at least eight people. Investigators say he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire "to kill all Zionist people." Soliman's defense attorney, David Kraut, urged Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella not to allow the case to move forward. Kraut said Soliman's anti-Zionist statements and his online search for a "Zionist" event to attack showed he targeted the demonstrators because of their perceived political views — their assumed support for the nation of Israel and the political movement of Zionism. An attack motivated by someone's political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Hindman said the government alleged that the attack was a hate crime because Soliman targeted people based on their national origin — their perceived connection to Israel. Prosecutors are not alleging that Soliman targeted demonstrators, who carried Israeli and American flags, because he believed they were Jewish, noting that he has said that not all Jewish people are Zionists. Hindman said Soliman did not use the term Israel. But she pointed out that he doesn't support its existence on what he called "our land," which he defined as Palestine. "He is targeting Israel, and he is targeting anyone who supports the existence of Israel on that land," she said. Starnella acknowledged that some of the evidence undercut the government's allegation that the demonstrators were targeted because of their perceived national origin but said other evidence supported it. At this stage, the government gets the benefit of the doubt on questions about evidence, she said. Investigators say Soliman told them he had intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder's Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his over two dozen Molotov cocktails while yelling "Free Palestine." Soliman told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a "legal citizen." Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been living in the U.S. illegally with his family. During his Wednesday appearance, Soliman's lower right arm and hand were wrapped in a thick bandage, with handcuffs around his wrists. Police previously said he was taken to a hospital for unspecified injuries right after the attack. FBI agent Timothy Chan testified at Wednesday's hearing that Soliman burned himself as he threw the second Molotov cocktail. Soliman wrote "1187" with a marker on the shirt he was wearing during the attack, a reference to the year that Muslims liberated Jerusalem from Christian Crusaders, Chan said. The significance of that year and battle were also discussed in documents found in Soliman's car, he testified. Soliman did not carry out his full plan "because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before," police wrote in an arrest affidavit. One of the injured suffered burns over 60% of their body, Chan testified. An unspecified number of those injured remain in the hospital, he said. Authorities consider 15 people and a dog as victims of the attack at the downtown Pearl Street pedestrian mall. One is a Holocaust survivor. Some are considered victims because they could have been hurt. Soliman is charged separately in state court with multiple counts of attempted murder, assault and offenses related to more than a dozen additional Molotov cocktails police say he did not use. Run for Their Lives, the group targeted in the attack, started in October 2023 after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. Suspect's family asks for help Federal authorities are seeking to deport Soliman's wife and their five children. They range in age from 4 to 18 years old and are being held in an immigration detention center in Texas, according to court documents. The White House said in a June 3 social media post that one-way tickets had been purchased for the family members, adding: "Final boarding call coming soon." A Colorado federal judge temporarily blocked their deportation with a restraining order on June 4. The case has since been transferred to Texas, where a federal judge on Wednesday extended the restraining order another two weeks. Lawyers for the family had asked to keep the order in place, even though government lawyers said in court documents that the family would be deported under the normal process, not an expedited one because the lawyers did not address the earlier comments from the White House. In a statement Wednesday, Soliman's wife, Hayam El Gamal, said she and her children sent their love to the many families suffering as a result of the attack but also urged the American people to consider their plight now. She focused on the trouble her children were having. "All they want is to be home, to be in school, to have privacy, to sleep in their own beds, to have their mother make them a home-cooked meal, to help them grieve and get through these terrible weeks," she wrote.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Wife of Colorado attack suspect says she and her 5 children are ‘suffering' in ICE custody
The wife of an Egyptian man accused of carrying out an antisemitic attack in Colorado earlier this month says she was in 'total shock' when she learned what her husband had allegedly done, detailing the 'grieving and suffering' her family is enduring in after federal custody , in a statement released Wednesday. Hayam El Gamal, 43, and her five children were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement two days after federal prosecutors say her husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, drove to downtown Boulder with a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails and attacked demonstrators at a peaceful event to support Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring at least 12 people. For a full year, Soliman, 45, planned the violent assault driven by his simmering anger toward Israel and hatred of 'Zionists,' according to federal documents. But El Gamal says she and the children were not aware of Soliman's plan to hurt innocent people. 'Why punish any of us, who did nothing wrong?' El Gamal said in the statement. 'We are treated like animals by the officers, who told us we are being punished for what my husband is accused of doing.' On June 3, El Gamal says she and her children were arrested, put on a flight in the middle of the night and transferred from Colorado to the Dilley Family Detention Center in southern Texas. In the two weeks that have passed, El Gamal said her eldest daughter turned 18 in federal custody and her younger children – aged 4, 4, 7 and 15 – were 'forced to watch officials rough-up' another detainee. 'They cried and cried, thinking they would be roughed-up, too,' El Gamal said. 'How much longer will we be here for something we didn't do?' Conditions in the detention center are inhumane, according to El Gamal, who says detainees are always being watched and woken up in the middle of the night. CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on conditions at the detention center following a referral from ICE and the facility's owner, CoreCivic, a private prison operator based in Nashville. 'Now my seven-year-old is about to have her birthday in jail, and my fifteen-year-old, too,' El Gamal added. 'All they want is to be home, to be in school, to have privacy, to sleep in their own beds, to have their mother make them a home-cooked meal, to help them grieve and get through these terrible weeks.' The exact reason for the detention of Soliman's wife and children is not clear, according to Eric Lee, the family's immigration attorney based in Michigan. The family entered the United States in August 2022, Lee told CNN Wednesday, before overstaying their visas. However, that's not why they were detained, he said. 'The issue here is whether they can be detained when the government has explicitly stated that its reason for detaining them is not because their visa overstays, but is because of their family relationship to their husband/father,' Lee told CNN Wednesday. Once detained, El Gamal and the children were placed under expedited removal, a process that allows immigration officials to remove noncitizens without a hearing before an immigration judge, Lee says. At the time of their detention, DHS did not provide additional details on the expedited removal process. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said the agency is 'investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.' El Gamal has not been charged with a crime, according to Lee, who notes there is no legal basis for deporting Soliman's family. 'The government can't detain individuals for unlawful purposes,' Lee added. While Soliman faces a federal hate crime charge and state charges including attempted murder, his wife and children are hoping to remain in the US, Lee says. On Wednesday, a US District court approved a request to extend a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge on June 4 that aims to keep El Gamal and her children in the US and prevents immigration officials 'from trying to deport this family illegally,' Lee told CNN. The order has been extended for an additional 14 days. The Trump administration opposed the extension request, stating that the family is not being placed under expedited removal, according to Lee. ' We don't understand if the government's being forthright about its statement that it is not anymore trying to put them into expedited removal,' Lee said. 'Why are they opposing the extension of an order which would prevent the administration from doing just that?' Since coming to the US, El Gamal says she and her family have tried to do everything right: learn English, find work, be good neighbors. 'All I want is to give my children good lives. My oldest daughter volunteered at a hospital; she has a 4.5 GPA and wants to become a doctor, to help people in this country,' El Gamal said. She and the children should be given the chance to grieve in peace, Lee added. 'That doesn't take anything away from the families of the people who are attacked in this terrible act,' he added. 'But, creating more suffering doesn't help anybody in this situation.'
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Hate crime case against Boulder suspect can go forward, judge rules
Soliman faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he's found guilty of the federal hate crime charges against him. The native of Egypt has also been charged in state court with 118 criminal counts, including attempted murder and other offenses. He sat expressionless in federal court in Denver. A city rattled: Divisions deepen in wealthy, liberal Boulder after antisemitic attack What happened in the attack in Boulder? Soliman is accused of lobbing Molotov cocktails and using a makeshift flamethrower to target Run for Their Lives, a group advocating for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and held in Gaza for more than 20 months. The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members were brazenly shot to death in Washington, D.C., amid a rise in antisemitism incidents across the U.S. and as tensions have escalated over Israel's war in Gaza, prompted by a brutal Hamas-led assault on Israeli border communities Oct. 7, 2023. What do authorities say was the suspect's motive? Soliman said "he wanted them to all die . . . He said he would go back and do it again and had no regret doing what he did," Boulder Detective John Sailer wrote in court papers of the attack on the gathering at a Boulder pedestrian mall. Soliman said that, to him, anyone who supported the existence of Israel on "our land" is a Zionist. He defined "our land" as Palestine, court documents said. Soliman allegedly hurled two of the 18 Molotov cocktails he'd brought with him, authorities said, yelling "Free Palestine." A federal affidavit charging Soliman with a hate crime and attempted murder says he learned about the march from an online search. He said he waited for his daughter to graduate from high school before executing the plot, according to the affidavit. He hoped to use a gun and had taken shooting classes, but his immigration status prevented him from purchasing a firearm, the affidavit says. What is happening in the immigration case In her first public statement, Soliman's wife, Hayam El Gamal, who along with her five children is being held at a family detention facility in south Texas, that they are "in total shock'' over her husband's alleged June 1 attack. El Gamal and the children, now ages 4 to 18, were arrested by immigration agents June 3, and the White House said they would be subjected to expedited deportation. But a federal judge in Denver blocked that move the next day, saying they were entitled to due process. By then the family had been transferred to the detention facility in Texas, where the case will be heard. "We are grieving, and we are suffering,'' El Gamal said in social media remarks posted Wednesday. "We are treated like animals by the officers, who told us we are being punished for what my husband is accused of doing.'' El Gamal said the family has been cooperating with authorities, and she expressed concern for both the victims of the attack and her children's wellbeing amid the anguish of their ordeal. El Gamal made the comments through Eric Lee, the lawyer representing her and the children, who posted them to his X account. Lee added that a federal judge on Wednesday extended a temporary restraining order keeping the Trump administration from deporting the family, who came to the U.S. from Kuwait in 2022 and sought asylum. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. What is the group Run for Their Lives? The national Run for Their Lives organization has sponsored walks and runs in hundreds of cities since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel, the deadliest on Jews since the Holocaust, as about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage by Hamas. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the onset of the war, which Israel launched in response to the attack. Contributing: Phaedra Trethan, Michael Loria, Trevor Hughes
