2 Honduran children detained for nearly a year in migrant facility, ACLU says
Signage for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters is seen, April 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(VIRGINIA) — Two Honduran immigrant children have been unlawfully detained at a youth facility in Virginia for more than 300 days, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
According to the complaint, the two siblings — a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl who lawyers say both fled gang violence in Honduras — have remained in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) despite “the existence of a fully vetted and approved sponsor.”
The lawsuit alleges that the government agency, which operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has “repeatedly delayed reunification through shifting technical and immaterial objections to sponsorship paperwork.”
According to the complaint, a close family friend stepped forward to sponsor them upon their arrival in U.S. in July 2025. By October 2025, federal officials had allegedly completed a positive home study and background checks, and recorded that “no documents are pending” in the case.
But instead of releasing the children, government officials “repeatedly” reopened the sponsorship process over minor clerical details, the lawsuit alleges.
The minors are being detained at Youth For Tomorrow, a Christian-based organization that provided services to unaccompanied migrant children. The ACLU said in the complaint that the delays in processing sponsor paperwork “are part of an escalating pattern” by the Office of Refugee Resettlement “to prevent children from being released.”
The two siblings, according to the lawsuit, have “documented educational accommodation plans and require specialized educational and developmental services” that they are not receiving while in custody.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told ABC News that the Office of Refugee Resettlement does not comment on active litigation. Youth For Tomorrow did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
The lawsuit comes as the average stay for unaccompanied minors in ORR custody has grown from 30 days in 2024 to 117 days in 2025 under the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
“ORR is choosing chaos and confusion for the children in its care over safety and stability,” Sophia Gregg, an attorney with the ACLU of Virginia, said in a statement. “ORR is tasked with facilitating the safe and speedy release of unaccompanied children in its care, but instead of following the law, it’s choosing to advance the Trump administration’s cruel, anti-immigrant agenda and causing irreparable harm to children in the process.”
A helicopter carrying five people crashed into the water off the coast of Catalina Island in California on Wednesday evening, killing two of those on board, sending two others to the hospital and prompting a search in the water for the last one.
“This remains an active scene with search and rescue operations continuing throughout the night,” the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
Two of four people who were recovered from the water were taken to the hospital and another two were pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.
“I have been informed that a medevac helicopter leaving Catalina Island has crashed shortly after takeoff,” Janice Hahn, a county supervisor, said in a statement.
“LA County Fire, Sheriff, Coast Guard, and Avalon Fire are on the scene,” Hahn added. “Search and rescue operations are underway and I am praying for everyone who was on board.”
California officials said the National Transportation Safety Board had been made aware of the crash and that it would lead an investigation.
Author James Comey, former FBI Director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Former FBI Director James Comey’s attorneys have filed a motion seeking the dismissal of the indictment charging Comey for posting a picture on his Instagram account of seashells spelling out “8647,” which federal prosecutors say constituted a threat against President Donald Trump’s life.
“This indictment targets protected speech at the heart of the First Amendment,” Comey’s attorneys said in their filing, regarding the charges announced in April over the since-deleted Instagram post from May 2025.
“Mr. Comey, an outspoken critic of President Trump, posted a photograph of seashells spelling out ’86 47,’ a well-known political slogan that expresses opposition to the President,” the filing said. “In fact, thousands of items featuring this slogan have been sold on the internet and are available to this day, and the slogan was commonly displayed at protests around the country in the months preceding Mr. Comey’s post.”
The filing, one of a series of anticipated efforts by Comey’s legal team to have his case thrown out before trial, accuses the Justice Department of singling out Comey “to prosecute one of the President’s most prominent critics for publishing another person’s statement of political opposition.”
“That attempt to suppress core political speech contravenes both the statutes at issue and the First Amendment,” Comey’s attorneys wrote.
Comey has vigorously denied his post was ever intended as a threat against Trump and is expected to plead not guilty in an arraignment scheduled for next month in North Carolina.
“Forcing Mr. Comey to stand trial for a statement opposing the President — even if he is ultimately acquitted — would itself be an unconstitutional punishment of free speech,” the filing said. “And it would invite future prosecutions by the Executive Branch against perceived political enemies for their opposition to the President. Government officials have already warned that they plan to target citizens if they ‘copycat’ Mr. Comey’s ‘political statement.'”
In their motion Monday, Comey’s attorneys revealed that after the former FBI director deleted his post, he contacted the local police chief “to notify him about the controversy over the post” and, as ABC News previously reported, agreed to be interviewed by Secret Service agents.
In making their argument that the post falls well short of the high legal bar to constitute a “true threat” as the Supreme Court has defined it, Comey’s lawyers claimed that prosecutors have provided no evidence to support the necessary standard showing Comey himself intended to engage in a violent act.
They also pointed to recent statements made by President Trump that they argue go much farther in potentially inciting violence against his political enemies, including Trump’s claim earlier this year that the lawmakers who posted the video urging service members to disobey unlawful orders amounted to “treason” that was “punishable by death.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 24, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(BIDDLEFORD, Maine) — Protesters are expected to gather Tuesday morning in Maine, a day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were involved in the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said he was briefed on the deadly encounter by Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, who confirmed that ICE agents conducting an operation in the area were involved in the shooting.
The man who was killed was identified as 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a spokesperson for King’s office told ABC News.
King said Guerrero was fatally shot after federal agents tried to stop the vehicle he was driving.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King told reporters Monday morning.
King told ABC News that Guerrero was not the target of the operation and that ICE agents had been given a final order for another man they were targeting to be removed from the country.
King previously said that Mullin initially told him Guerrero was the intended target of the operation.
“Body cameras were not on the agents. So we have no video evidence of what occurred in this case,” King said. “State and local officials, of course, are attending to it. The FBI will be leading the investigation because it was a federal operation.”
Two Maine immigration advocacy groups — Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (MIRC) and the Presente! — issued a joint statement Monday, saying the individual who was killed was a Colombian man whom they claimed was authorized to work in the United States and had a Social Security number.
The groups called for a “prompt, independent, and transparent investigation.” They also called for a full accounting of every agency and officer involved as well as the preservation of all body-camera footage, surveillance footage, and communications between the federal officials involved.
“ICE must not be allowed to investigate itself or control the public narrative surrounding a death in which its personnel or operations were involved,” the groups said.
The Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C., issued a statement Monday on social media, saying it “deeply regrets the death of a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine, and is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.”
The embassy said it has also requested “information and clarification from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death and will continue to follow the case closely as the investigation progresses.”
Witness Daniel Boucher told ABC News that he watched agents pull the shooting victim from his car and put him on the ground.
“I heard the young man say, ‘I tried to stop.’ I clearly heard him say that,” said Boucher, adding that he overheard one of the ICE agents allegedly say the driver tried to run him over.
“I could no longer see any movement, which meant he had expired,” an emotional Boucher said. “He was bloody, his face was bloody. It was awful.”
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Mechanics Park in Biddeford on Monday for an impromptu vigil and demanded justice for Guerrero. Another protest is being planned for Tuesday morning outside a federal immigration facility in Scarborough, Maine, according to organizers.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office also released a statement, confirming that the ICE operation on Monday morning was targeting a man related to a final order to remove him from the country.
The Attorney General’s Office alleged, “the suspect attempted to flee in the vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she was also briefed on the shooting and was informed that federal law enforcement was involved.
“I know situations like these are alarming and frightening,” Mills said in a statement. “The Maine State Police are at the scene supporting and working cooperatively with the Attorney General’s Office, Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and Federal officials to determine the facts of what occurred this morning.”
The FBI said the agency “responded to assist on-scene immediately following this morning’s shooting incident in Biddeford, Maine. We have no additional comment at this time.”
An ICE spokesperson provided ABC News with the agency’s preliminary alleged version of the incident.
“On July 13, 2026, at approximately 7:00 AM ET, ICE was conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal,” the ICE spokesperson said. “An illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle. ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon.”
The ICE spokesperson added, “The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries.”
The spokesperson did not confirm that the man who was shot was not the person targeted in the ICE operation.
A bystander video verified by ABC News showed what appeared to be federal immigration agents and uniformed law enforcement officers in the aftermath of the shooting performing first aid on an individual on the ground at an intersection.
A Ring camera video obtained by ABC News from a residence near the shooting scene captured the sound of what appeared to be at least five gunshots. Several bullet holes could be seen in the the front windshield of the victim’s car following the shooting.
Em Akerley, who lives near the shooting scene, told ABC affiliate station WMTW that she was inside her home having her morning coffee when she heard the gunshots.
“I thought it was a backfire, and then I kept hearing them,” Akerley said. “I thought it was a drive-by shooting.”
She said she looked out her window and saw a small white car being corralled by two men, who appeared to be trying to stop the vehicle from losing control in the intersection.
“All of a sudden, all of these plainclothes vested men started running down the street, abandoning their cars,” Akerley said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to add Sen. King’s comments saying the deceased, later identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, was not the intended target of the operation.
