Latest news with #Reding
The Hill
12 hours ago
- Health
- The Hill
Health care workers on alert for ICE raids in hospitals
President Trump's whittling away of protected places for immigrants has fueled fears among health care workers that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will arrest patients in or around hospitals. In January, the Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era policy that protected certain areas like churches, schools and hospitals from immigration enforcement. And lawmakers in at least one state have introduced legislation aimed at making it easier for ICE to make arrests in hospitals. As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeks to ramp up ICE raids at hotels, restaurants, farms and other sites, nurses worry their workplace could be next. 'We were all worried about what this meant,' Michael Kennedy, a nurse at a University of California, San Diego health facility located very near the U.S.-Mexico border, said of the policy changes under Trump. 'As we've seen these immigration raids ramp up, our first thought is about our patients and what that means for them.' ICE agents made a record number of migrant arrests in a single day this month and have appeared outside of courthouses in Seattle and stores in the New York City area. The agency's workplace raids in Los Angeles spurred days of protests, which in turn prompted a heavy-handed response from the Trump administration. Sandy Reding is a nurse at a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., which serves communities of farm workers and employs a diverse staff. 'There is a lot of concern [about] ICE agents showing up with FBI or with the military, because we've seen a lot of reports on TV, and we have reports in our area where this is happening as well,' she said. Reding and her fellow nurses, she said, are also worried that the news of increased ICE raids will deter some patients from coming to the hospital to seek care. 'What we are going to see is a large burden on communities and hospitals if people delay care,' Reding said. 'And there are worse outcomes.' Nancy Hagan, an intensive care unit nurse at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City, said those concerns have come to fruition at her hospital. In May, she said, an immigrant New Yorker had appendicitis but waited too long to go to the emergency room. Their appendix burst, spreading infected tissue and bacteria to other organs, which ultimately killed them. 'Once patients hear that a hospital is no longer a safe place for them to go, they are afraid to come to the hospital,' she said. Hagan, a Haitian immigrant, added that she and her colleagues, who work at hospitals across the city, have noticed that emergency rooms appear to be emptier in recent months. Kennedy, the nurse in San Diego, said the Level 1 trauma center, which is typically packed, has been emptier than usual. He admitted the decline in patient visits could be seasonally related, but he said he believes that the possibility of ICE agents arresting immigrants is having a 'chilling effect.' 'I can't see how this doesn't affect our patients' willingness to seek care,' he said. 'I'm willing to bet that a lot of people are delaying care because they're afraid.' ICE did not get back to The Hill in response to questions on whether agents have arrested people in or around hospitals, or if there are plans to do so. DHS announced in January that it had rescinded former President Biden's guidelines on immigration enforcement at 'sensitive locations' that were first issued under former President Obama. 'The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,' a DHS spokesperson said at the time. The National Immigration Law Center said that while immigrants no longer have special protections at hospitals and other 'sensitive locations,' they still have basic rights. 'Instead, individuals will need to rely on basic constitutional protections in these spaces,' it said in a fact sheet. 'Specifically, the Fourth Amendment protects all individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the Fifth Amendment ensures the right to remain silent when confronted by law enforcement.' The Emergency Medicine Residents' Association has distributed a flyer with step-by-step guidance for health care workers on dealing with ICE agents if they do enter hospitals.
Miami Herald
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Trump's pick for top federal prosecutor in South Florida nears Senate confirmation
Miami-Dade County Judge Jason Reding Quiñones took a big step on Thursday toward being confirmed as the top federal prosecutor in South Florida, as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines in favor of President Donald Trump's pick for the region's high-profile law enforcement post. The Republican-led committee vote 12-9 for Reding to head the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, making him the first nominee for such a position in Trump's second term to be sent to the full Senate for confirmation. Reding, 44, who once worked as a federal prosecutor in the Miami office, could be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate in a matter of weeks, depending on the latest political dispute between its Democratic and Republican members, according to University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. Tobias said standing potentially in his way is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who on Tuesday said he intends to put a hold on all Justice Department political nominees until he receives more information from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about Trump's plan to accept a $400 million jet as a gift from Qatar. 'Schumer has pledged to deny unanimous consent on all DOJ nominees over the Qatar jet gift until Bondi makes public her legal opinion about the gift,' said Tobias, an expert on presidential nominations. As a result, Reding's confirmation could be delayed because he will need a cloture vote ending debate on his nomination as U.S. Attorney before the Senate votes on it, he said. Senate Majority Leader John Thune might set the matter for next week before the Memorial Day recess or in early June when the Senate returns, he said. Trump nominated Reding in February as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, extending from Key West to Fort Pierce. The office, one of the busiest in the country, has about 250 prosecutors who focus on fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and violent crime — though Trump has made rooting out illegal immigration the No. 1 priority of his administration. Reding graduated from Florida International University's law school in 2008, practiced corporate law for few years, did a stint as a JAG/military lawyer for the Air Force, and then joined the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Later that year, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami hired Reding as a prosecutor in the major crimes section, the starting place for most newly hired assistants. Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Reding as county judge in Miami-Dade, where he oversees domestic violence cases. Reding is also a member of the conservative Federalist Society like many of Trump's appointments to U.S. Attorney posts and federal judge openings Trump was effusive in his praise of Reding when he announced his nomination for the U.S. Attorney's position on the president's online media platform, Truth Social. 'It is my honor to nominate Judge Jason Reding Quiñones as the next United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida,' Trump posted in mid-February. 'As the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Reding Quiñones will restore Law and Order, prosecute violent crimes and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. Congratulations Jason!' After his nomination, the Miami Herald reported that Reding changed his last name to include Quiñones before he applied to be a county judge in late 2023, possibly to curry favor with Miami-Dade County's predominant Hispanic voters. According to several sources, Reding received poor evaluations as a prosecutor in the major crimes section of the U.S. Attorney's Office during his four-year stint. He was then transferred to the office's civil division. Reding has not returned several email and voice-mail messages seeking comment on his performance in the office. One of his supporters, attorney Jesus M. Suarez, who was a member of the Judicial Nominating Committee that recommended Reding as a county judge, criticized the Herald story in a post on X and praised his nomination by Trump for U.S. Attorney in South Florida. 'Judge Reding is an excellent choice by President Trump to enact much needed reforms at DOJ and throughout U.S. Attorneys' Offices [in] the nation,' Suarez posted. If confirmed, Reding will replace Markenzy Lapointe, a Haitian-American immigrant who became the first Black lawyer to serve as U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida. Lapointe resigned on Jan. 17 resignation, days before the Trump administration began replacing top prosecutors in 94 federal district offices and firing dozens of assistant U.S. attorneys who had been involved in prosecuting Trump in connection with a special counsel's classified documents and Jan. 6 election interference cases. Since starting his second term as president, Trump has orchestrated a Justice Department crackdown on prosecutors and other personnel associated with those now-dismissed criminal cases as well as on major Democratic-leaning law firms. When Lapointe stepped down as U.S. Attorney, he was temporarily replaced by federal prosecutor Hayden O'Byrne.
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Fletcher Building restructures Australian division, forecasts $15m savings
Hamish McBeath, previously New Zealand building products chief executive, would lead this division. The second unit would include concrete-related businesses like Winstone Aggregates, Golden Bay Cement, Firth Concrete and Humes, the New Zealand steel businesses, and Australia's Stramit. Thornton Williams, the concrete division chief executive, would lead this division. Due to the restructuring, former Australian division chief executive Gareth O'Reilly will leave the company. Fletcher CEO Andrew Reding acknowledged O'Reilly's contributions. 'Alongside this restructuring, a further review of the company's corporate structure has been carried out and it is anticipated that this will deliver approximately $15 million annualised savings in structural costs in the short term which are in addition to the approximately $200m of cost out targeted for FY25,' the company said today. The review is ongoing, and the group will continue to identify opportunities for further material cost reductions. Investors will get more information at the company's investor day on June 24. Reding gave a downbeat update on the business. Since the December 31, 2024 half-year results were issued, Fletcher's businesses 'have seen no significant improvement in market conditions, with market volumes continuing to be challenging due to macroeconomic uncertainties and the lack of any material momentum in the recovery of New Zealand's economy'. The company's businesses operating in the commercial and infrastructure segments continue to face reduced or deferred spending, partly due to recent weather events and reduced sub-division activity, Reding said. Residential property sales also remain at subdued levels, reflecting lower levels of liquidity across the market, he said. In March, Fletcher announced its much-vaunted Clever Core prefab house-building factory at Wiri in South Auckland will shut, to be replaced next year by a PlaceMakers frame and truss plant. Clever Core has not worked out and would close by June 30. 'Fletcher Building has made a recent and difficult decision to close Clever Core, our off-site manufacturing business,' a spokeswoman said.
Miami Herald
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Trump picks U.S. attorney in Miami. As criminal prosecutor, he received poor evaluations
On paper, President Donald Trump's new nominee to head the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida seems to have solid credentials. He formerly served as an assistant federal prosecutor in the Miami office, was appointed as a Miami-Dade County judge a year ago by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and he's a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. But there are a couple of things in the background of Jason A. Reding Quiñones that were not highlighted in Trump's glowing post about him on his media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday, including a name change and that he received poor evaluations as a criminal prosecutor in the same office he has been nominated to head. After a lifetime of only going by the last name 'Reding,' he added 'Quiñones' to his surname in December 2023 when he applied for judicial openings on the county bench — a not so uncommon strategy in the so-called name game of judicial politics in Miami-Dade, where the majority of voters are Hispanic. It's not clear whether Quiñones is a family name, however, because the 44-year-old Reding has never publicly explained why he appended it to his application to the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission in his bid for county judge. Long before he set his sights on that goal, Reding, as he was known, graduated from Florida International University's law school in 2008, practiced corporate law for few years, did a stint as a JAG/military lawyer for the Air Force, and then joined the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Later that year, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami hired Reding as an assistant federal prosecutor in the major crimes section, the starting place for most newly hired assistants. Put on performance work plan But during his four years in the major crimes section, which focuses on violent criminal prosecutions, Reding received poor employee evaluations from his supervisors, the Miami Herald has learned. As a result, Reding was placed on a performance work plan before he took an extended leave from the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2020-2021 to serve in the Air Force Reserve. When Reding returned to the office, he was reassigned to the civil division, which deals mostly with non-criminal prosecutions. In the civil division, Reding received satisfactory job evaluations. Reding did not respond to emails and a call to his office at the Miami-Dade County Court, where he has worked in the domestic violence section over the past year. The Herald not only requested an interview with Reding, but also sought responses to questions about the change to his last name and his poor job reviews at the U.S. Attorney's Office. On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said it could not comment on personnel matters. Miami office one of the busiest Trump, meanwhile, was effusive in his praise of Reding when he announced his nomination for the U.S. Attorney's position on Sunday afternoon. The office, one of the busiest in the country, has about 250 prosecutors who focus on fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and violent crime — though Trump has made it clear that a sweeping crackdown on immigration offenses is the main priority of his administration. 'It is my honor to nominate Judge Jason Reding Quiñones as the next United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida,' Trump posted on his media platform, Truth Social. 'A former Federal prosecutor and Justice Department National Security Official, Judge Reding Quiñones currently serves as a highly respected State Trial Judge in Miami, and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve. 'As the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Reding Quiñones will restore Law and Order, prosecute violent crimes and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. Congratulations Jason!' Federalist Society member Reding, who is a member of the conservative Federalist Society like many of Trump's appointments to U.S. Attorney's posts and federal judge openings, still must go through a Senate Judiciary Committee review and full Senate vote. If confirmed, he will replace interim U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne, who was temporarily appointed to the position by the Justice Department after U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe stepped down last month before Trump was sworn in as president. Lapointe, a Haitian-American immigrant who became the first Black lawyer to serve in the most powerful federal law enforcement position in South Florida, announced his resignation after two years on the job. Lapointe, 56, who assumed the U.S. Attorney's position in January 2023 after being nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, presided over a post-COVID-19 office that cracked down on government loan scams, false Medicare claims and nursing-school diploma mills, as well as Venezuelan corruption, developer Sergio Pino's murder-for-hire plot targeting his wife, and the South Florida-led conspiracy to kill Haiti's president. Senior prosecutors leave office Lapointe's exit was not the only significant departure from the office, which has lost a half dozen senior career prosecutors who either retired or moved into private practice, causing a brain drain and leadership void. Moreover, morale in the South Florida office has sunk to a new low, partly because of Trump's Justice Department firing prosecutors and forcing others to resign in key places, including Washington and New York City. In late January, one of the Miami office's most well-respected prosecutors, Michael Thakur, was fired along with more than a dozen federal prosecutors in the Justice Department by Acting Attorney General James McHenry as political retribution for the special counsel's indictments of Trump during the Biden administration. In an emailed letter to Thakur and others, McHenry cited their roles in either the classified documents case involving an FBI search of Trump's estate in Palm Beach or the election-interference case arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — both brought against Trump by the former special counsel, Jack Smith.
