Recently freed Honduran transgender woman detained again by Ice

Nicole Garcia Aguilar fled Honduras after being subjected to sexual assault and attempted murder linked to her gender identity

Nina Lakhani
Fri 26 Apr 2019 09.00 BST Last modified on Fri 26 Apr 2019 09.02 BST

A Honduran transgender asylum seeker who was released last week after a year incarcerated in immigration centres has been re-detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).

The move was condemned by her legal team as punitive and damaging to the young woman’s physical and mental health.

Nicole Garcia Aguilar, 24, fled southern Honduras after being subjected to death threats, sexual assault and attempted murder linked to her gender identity. She sought help from the police in Honduras, but was told by one officer that the violence against her was “because of the way [she is]” and would not stop until she was dead.

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Before being released, Garcia was transferred to an Ice custody in El Paso, Texas, where she had a pending criminal charge. The charge was dismissed and Garcia finally released from Ice detention on 17 April but given no release paperwork – a document that is essential in order to travel freely and avoid detention at immigration checkpoints.

On 24 April, Garcia, accompanied by advocates from the Detained Migrants Solidarity Committee, went to the Ice office in El Paso to obtain her release paperwork where she was taken into custody.

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BUSINESS NEWS APRIL 25, 2019 / 10:26 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO

Canada watchdog to seek court order to force Facebook to follow privacy laws

Steve Scherer, David Ljunggren
3 MIN READ

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Facebook Inc broke Canadian privacy laws when it collected the information of some 600,000 citizens, a top watchdog said on Thursday, pledging to seek a court order to force the social media giant to change its practices.

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien made his comments while releasing the results of an investigation, opened a year ago, into a data sharing scandal involving Facebook and the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Though Facebook has acknowledged a “major breach of trust”, the company disputed the results of the probe, Therrien said.

“Facebook’s refusal to act responsibly is deeply troubling given the vast amount of sensitive personal information users have entrusted to this company,” said Therrien.

He said the company refused to voluntarily submit to audits of its privacy policies and practices over the next five years.

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From Sudan’s protesters, a warning to Saudi Arabia and the UAE: Don’t meddle

By Max Bearak and Kareem Fahim April 24 at 3:30 PM

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Amid the chants praising the “revolution of the people,” a new slogan appeared this week at a massive sit-in protest in Sudan’s capital: “We do not want Saudi aid even if we have to eat beans and falafel!”

The chant underscored the suspicion in the protest camp about the motives of Saudi Arabia and its close ally, the United Arab Emirates, after they jointly pledged $3 billion in aid to Sudan’s transitional military government, which deposed Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir this month after 30 years in power.

The protests, which have spread across the country to become the biggest in a generation, have continued to swell after his ouster, putting pressure on the military to swiftly transfer power to a civilian council until elections can be held.

But many within the protests fear that the powerful monarchies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are using their immense wealth to suppress democracy and support a “counterrevolution,” as they have been accused of doing elsewhere in the region.

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Videos appear to show armed militia detaining migrants at US-Mexico border

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling the actions a ‘kidnapping’ and a flagrant violation of the law

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Fri 19 Apr 2019 00.14 BST Last modified on Fri 19 Apr 2019 01.03 BST

Armed rightwing militia members detained a large group of migrants at the US-Mexico border and coordinated with US border patrol agents to have them arrested, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, in a series of actions the civil liberties organization called a “kidnapping” and a flagrant violation of the law.

Several videos taken at the border in New Mexico this week appeared to show men belonging to a group that calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots approaching migrant families and children, ordering them to sit down, calling federal agents on them, and at one point potentially misrepresenting themselves by saying “border patrol” as they approached.

“The Trump administration’s vile racism has emboldened white nationalists and fascists to flagrantly violate the law,” the ACLU of New Mexico said in a letter to the state’s governor and attorney general, urging them to “immediately investigate this atrocious and unlawful conduct”.

The ACLU described the group as “an armed fascist militia organization” made up of “vigilantes” working to “kidnap and detain people seeking asylum” and accused the group of directly making illegal arrests.

The group has repeatedly appeared in local news stories in recent weeks, expressing support for Donald Trump’s proposed border wall and presenting themselves as “volunteers” aiding border patrol efforts.

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WORLD NEWS APRIL 17, 2019 / 8:00 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Exclusive: Dispute flares among U.S. officials over Trump administration Iran arms control report

Jonathan Landay, Arshad Mohammed
7 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new Trump administration report on international compliance with arms control accords provoked a dispute with U.S. intelligence agencies and some State Department officials concerned that the document politicizes and slants assessments about Iran, five sources with knowledge of the matter said.

U.S. President Donald Trump is intensifying a drive to contain Iran’s power in the Middle East, which has raised fears that his administration wants to topple the Tehran government or lay the groundwork to justify military action.

The administration says it is trying to halt Iranian “malign behavior” in its support for Islamist militants in the region and denies seeking the overthrow of the Islamic republic’s government.

The clash among U.S. officials emerged on Tuesday when the State Department posted on its website, and then removed, an unclassified version of an annual report to Congress assessing compliance with arms control agreements that the sources saw as skewed Iran.

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WORLD NEWS APRIL 8, 2019 / 9:27 PM / UPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO

Hong Kong pro-democracy 'Occupy' activists defiant after guilty verdicts

James Pomfret, Jessie Pang
5 MIN READ

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found nine leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy “Occupy” movement guilty of public nuisance during the mass protests, in a landmark verdict as freedoms in the city ruled by mainland China come under strain.

Scores of supporters applauded the defendants, who included a law professor, two legislators and former student activists, after a trial that critics said highlighted the decline of political freedoms in the former British colony.

Law professor Benny Tai, 54, retired sociologist Chan Kin-man, 60, and retired pastor Chu Yiu-ming, 75 were found guilty of conspiracy to commit public nuisance over their leading role in planning and mobilizing supporters during the 79-day protest.

The trio had pleaded not guilty to all charges, which carry a maximum jail term of seven years each. The judge did not immediately hand down sentences, and the defendants have not said if they planned to appeal.

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Hong Kong 'Umbrella' protesters found guilty of public nuisance

9 April 2019

Nine pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have been found guilty of public nuisance charges for their role in a civil disobedience movement that called for free elections in the city.

Among them are three prominent activists, seen as figureheads of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

They could be jailed for up to seven years for their part in the "Umbrella Movement" protests of 2014.

Thousands marched demanding the right for Hong Kong to choose its own leader.

Those convicted include the so-called "Occupy trio" - sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 60, law professor Benny Tai, 54, and Baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, 75.

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Ben Carson questioned on HUD's lack of LGBTQ nondiscrimination guidance

“We are all now more stupid than we were when we came in the room today,” Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said after a heated exchange with the HUD secretary.

April 4, 2019, 12:09 PM EDT
By Eileen Street

WASHINGTON — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said in a hearing Wednesday that a Democratic congressman “might not like” and “probably wouldn’t agree with” the department’s LGBTQ nondiscrimination guidance, if the agency were to provide it.

During the House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said he was “very disappointed” with HUD's decision not to replace the LGBTQ nondiscrimination guidance that the department removed from its website soon after Carson was appointed by President Donald Trump over two years ago. The guidance, provided in 2009 by the Obama administration, was intended to help HUD housing providers and shelters interpret the agency’s rules so as not to discriminate against LGBTQ service recipients.

“So, how will these grantees comply with the regs without this guidance, sir?” Quigley asked Carson.

Carson responded that the guidance “was pretty much obliterated” by rules HUD issued in 2012 and 2016. The secretary added that HUD “concluded that putting that sub-regulatory guidance" regarding anti-LGBTQ discrimination "actually confused the issue." He said his agency — which is responsible for national policy and programs that address America’s housing needs and enforces fair housing laws — was trying to “simplify things” and said the rules still stand and have not been changed.

Quigley, who serves as vice chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, pressed on, saying “HUD grantees need guidance to avoid the discrimination and to make clear to them what the rules are.” Quigley also stated that HUD missed a deadline “by almost six months” to review the guidance in question that the agency took down in 2017. Carson responded by saying the agreement had been that the guidelines would be reviewed, not that they would be put back up on HUD's website.

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