3 children, 2 dogs rescued from storm drainage system in Colorado, officials say
Security Fire Department
(SECURITY-WIDEFIELD, Colo.) — Three children and two dogs were rescued from a storm drainage system in Colorado, according to fire officials.
Officials responded to a neighborhood in Security-Widefield, Colorado, searching for “three children and two dogs lost in the maze of the underground storm drainage system” over the weekend, the Security Fire Department said in a statement on Monday.
After an “extensive search,” the children and the dogs were located and were extracted through a manhole in the street “more than a half-mile from where they had entered,” officials said.
“Kids may think it would be fun to explore storm drains looking for those ninja turtles, but it can be very dangerous and even deadly,” the fire department said.
Even though the children and canines were safely removed, officials emphasized the dangers of being in a storm drainage system.
“Getting lost underground, hypothermia, rapid weather change flooding in drainage system (drowning risk), oxygen deficiency, toxic gases (such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide) and of course critters like rattlesnakes,” the fire department said.
The fire department encouraged parents to talk to their children about “the dangers of playing in and around” storm drains.
Officials were not clear why the children and the dogs were exploring the storm drains or how long they were lost.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Maryland has granted a preliminary injunction and ordered the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, by Monday.
“I am going to grant the motion for preliminary injunction I’ve reviewed, and I’ll read this word for word, so that there is no dispute that the oral order is the written order,” said U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis at Firday’s hearing, making a reference to the Alien Enemies Act court case in which the government failed to carry out another judge’s oral order.
“The two defendants are hereby ordered to facilitate the return of plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States by no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7, 2025,” Judge Xinis said.
Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador as part of what the Trump administration described as a $6 million deal with Salvadoran authorities in which they would house deported migrants in exchange for payment. At Friday’s hearing, however, the Justice Department attorney denied there was such a contract.
“The way I see the record, though, is that there is an agreement between your clients and El Salvador where your clients are [paying] upward of $6 million to house individuals,” Judge Xinis said. “There’s nothing to suggest that they’re still not in the custody of DHS and immigration.”
Erez Reuveni, Acting Deputy Director for the Office of Immigration Litigation for DOJ, replied, “There’s nothing in the record that there is a contract.”
When Judge Xinis pushed back and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have spoken about an agreement between the two countries, Reuveni said he could not speak for them.
“I can’t speak to where they got their information from,” Reuvani said. “But neither of them said there is a contact.”
“They may not have used the word contract, but agreement sounds a lot like contract where we paid $6 million,” Judge Xinis replied. “I think I can draw a logicial inference.”
Abrego Garcia, despite having protected legal status, was sent to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador following what the government said was an “administrative error.”
“The facts are conceded,” Reuvani said during Friday’s hearing. “Mr. Abrego Garcia should not have been removed.”
Although the government has acknowledged the error, it said in an earlier court filing that because Abrego Garcia was no longer in U.S. custody, the court cannot order him to be returned to the U.S., nor can the court order El Salvador to return him.
Last month, Abrego Garcia, who has a U.S. citizen wife and 5-year-old child, was stopped by ICE officers who “informed him that his immigration status had changed,” according to his attorneys. He was detained and then transferred to a detention center in Texas, after which he was sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, along with more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members, on March 15.
Abrego Garcia entered the United States in 2011 when he was 16 to escape gang violence in El Salvador, according to his lawyers. His attorneys say that in 2019, a confidential informant “had advised that Abrego Garcia was an active member” of the gang MS-13. Abrego Garcia later filed an I-589 application for asylum, and although he was found removable, an immigration judge “granted him withholding of removal to El Salvador,” the attorneys said.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say that he “is not a member of or has no affiliation with Tren de Aragua, MS-13, or any other criminal or street gang” and said that the U.S. government “has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation.”
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — while acknowledging the government’s error in sending him to El Salvador — called Abrego Garcia a leader of MS-13.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt said.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the attorney representing Abrego Garcia, acknowledged at Friday’s hearing that his client could have been removed to another county — just not El Salvador.
“He certainly was removable to many countries on Earth — El Salvador is simply not one of them,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
“There was no removal order as to El Salvador,” he added. “This was essentially the equivalent of a forcible expulsion.”
When asked by Judge Xinis under what authority law enforcement officers seized Abrego Garcia, Reuveni said he was frustrated that he did not have those answers.
“Your honor, my answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating and I’m also frustrated that I have no answers for you on a lot of these questions,” Reuvani said.
Following the hearing, Abrego Garcia’s wife said she will continue to fight for her husband.
“I want to say thank you to everyone that has helped us, that has supported us in fighting this, and we will continue fighting for Kilmar, for my husband,” said Jennifer Varquez Sura.
(BALTIMORE) — A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador, whose removal violated a previous court settlement, according to an order issued on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, also ordered the government not to remove other individuals covered by the settlement.
The class action case from 2019 was filed on behalf of individuals who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and later sought asylum.
The group sued the government to be able to have their asylum applications adjudicated while they remained in the United States. The parties settled in 2024.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the Trump administration, in breach of the settlement agreement, removed one of the class members — referred to using the pseudonym “Cristian” in court records — to El Salvador on March 15 when it deported three planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison there.
In an opinion filed Wednesday, Judge Gallagher referenced the case of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and said that “like Judge [Paula] Xinis in the Abrego Garcia matter, this court will order Defendants to facilitate Cristian’s return to the United States so that he can receive the process he was entitled to under the parties’ binding Settlement Agreement.”
The judge’s order was first reported by ABC News. Judge Gallagher said that facilitating Cristian’s return requires the defendants “making a good faith request to the government of El Salvador and to release Cristian to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States to await the adjudication of his asylum application on the merits by USCIS.”
Gallagher called the deportation a “breach of contract.”
“At bottom, this case, unlike other cases involving the government’s removal of individuals under the Alien Enemies Act, is a contractual dispute because of the Settlement Agreement,” attorneys for the plaintiff said, referring to the 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process.
The Trump administration, according to the order, contends that the removal of Cristian did not violate the settlement because “his designation as an alien enemy pursuant to the AEA results in him ceasing to be a member.”
In a sworn declaration, an official for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that Cristian was arrested in January for possession of cocaine.
“On January 6, 2025, [“Cristian”] was convicted in the 482nd District Court at Harris County, Texas for the offense of possession of cocaine, a Texas state jail felony,” said Robert Cerna, the Acting Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Cerna said that following the invocation of the AEA, ICE determined that Cristian was subject to removal.
“On March 15, 2025, [“Cristian”] was removed under the Alien Enemies Act, 50 U.S.C. Ch. 3, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 10,903, as a Venezuelan citizen 14 years of age or older who is a member of TdA,” Cerna said, referring to the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua.
“Allegations that Class Members, like Cristian, are subject to the AEA do not exclude those individuals from the Class under the plain terms of the Settlement Agreement,” attorneys for the plaintiff argued.
Counsel for the class of migrants also alleged in court filings that another Venezuelan man, identified as an 18-year-old named Javier in the court records, was in imminent danger of being deported earlier this month.
Judge Gallagher determined that Javier was covered by the settlement agreement and entered a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from removing him from the United States.
(NEW YORK) — A woman’s ex-boyfriend is in police custody after she was found dead in a suitcase on Thursday in Yonkers, New York, law enforcement sources said.
Pamela Alcantara, 26, was found dead in a marshy area by the side of Saw Mill River Parkway after going missing over the weekend, according to law enforcement sources.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, the NYPD said.
While her 46-year-old ex-boyfriend remains in custody, no one has been charged yet in her death. He is not cooperating with police, sources said.
The couple had been dating for three years before she recently broke it off, her family told New York ABC station WABC.
Alcantara lived with the man in her Bronx apartment. Detectives were looking to talk to him this week in connection to her disappearance, according to sources.
Her ex-boyfriend’s license plate pinged near the location the body was found at 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, according to WABC.
The NYPD searched an area along the roadway where his vehicle stopped and a drone spotted the red suitcase containing her body in the water, according to law enforcement sources.
The man was taken into custody soon after. He initially told detectives Alcantara left her apartment in a hurry, wearing pajamas and carrying the red suitcase, sources sad. Evidence recovered by detectives later revealed that was not accurate, and he requested a lawyer, according to sources.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death, according to the NYPD.Alcantara was reported missing on Sunday after she did not show up to church. The circumstances surrounding her death remain under investigation, according to law enforcement sources.
Alcantara was last seen on surveillance video early Sunday at her residence, according to the NYPD.
ABC News’ CeFaan Kim, Mark Crudele and Omar Rodriguez contributed to this report.
