Many noncitizens deported under Alien Enemies Act did not have criminal records: ICE official
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(WASHINGTON) — Many of the noncitizens who were deported pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday did not have criminal records, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said in a sworn filing overnight.
In a sworn declaration, ICE Acting Field Office Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations Robert Cerna argued that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose” and “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”
“While it is true that many of the [Tren de Aragua gang] members removed under the AEA do not have criminal records in the United States, that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time. The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat,” Cerna said.
The admission that many of the men lacked criminal records – and were deported on the assumption that they might be terrorists – comes as top Trump administration officials insist that the men were violent criminals, with President Donald Trump labeling them “monsters.”
Cerna wrote that some of the men have been convicted or arrested for crimes including murder, assault, harassment, and drug offenses, writing that ICE personnel “carefully vetted each individual alien to ensure they were in fact members of TdA.”
To determine whether a noncitizen was a “member of TdA,” he said law enforcement allegedly used victim testimony, financial transactions, computer checks, and other “investigative techniques.”
“ICE did not simply rely on social media posts, photographs of the alien displaying gang-related hand gestures, or tattoos alone,” Cerna said.
The declaration was included in the Trump administration’s recent motion to vacate Judge James Boasberg’s temporary restraining orders blocking deportations pursuant to the AEA.
“These orders are an affront to the President’s broad constitutional and statutory authority to protect the United States from dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people,” Department of Justice lawyers argued.
Boasberg ordered the Department of Justice to submit, by noon Tuesday, a sworn declaration about how many noncitizens were deported under the AEA and when they were removed from the country.
(NEW YORK) — Wendy Brugh, owner of Dry Ridge Farm in Marshall, North Carolina, said President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement is like “pouring salt in a wound that is just now beginning to heal.”
During a gathering of small business owners on Wednesday, she said tariffs will increase the costs of “everything from fertilizer and feed to construction materials and tractors,” hitting the farming community while it still recovers from crop losses after Hurricane Helene.
“We’re personally faced with the uncertainty of how retaliatory tariffs will affect our largest expense, our animal feed,” Brugh told ABC News’ Asheville affiliate WLOS.
Brugh and other small business owners are weighing in on the tariffs Trump unveiled against virtually all U.S. trading partners on Wednesday afternoon. He described the tariffs as “kind reciprocal” and will focus on nations he claimed were the worst offenders in trade relations with the U.S.
The new measures — which Trump described as “historic” — include a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and further, more targeted punitive levies on certain countries, including China, the European Union and Taiwan.
“We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us,” he said, adding, “because we are being very kind.”
Hendrick Svendsen, the owner of a furniture store in Merriam, Kansas, told ABC News on Wednesday he has decided to close his store due to Trump’s tariffs announcement.
“We just made the decision we are going to close down, we will be out in August,” Svendsen said.
He said there is no way to continue the store’s operation by using American-made products, with 90% of their items made overseas.
“I don’t think that furniture manufacturing is ever going to come back to the U.S. North Carolina, where it used to be made, it’s like a ghost town,” Svendsen said on ABC News Live. “When it comes to skill and workers, I don’t think we have that in the U.S.”
Furniture manufacturing jobs in the United States have declined over the past few months, with 336,900 reported in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But, there are individuals who are optimistic about the tariffs, including Duane Paddock, the owner of a Chevrolet dealership in Buffalo, New York. He told ABC News Live that he has seen the best sales in 13 years.
While he is uncertain of the exact impact of the tariffs, he said he is hopeful that Trump’s announcement is the “best thing for our country” and that his dealership will continue to “keep prices as low as possible and do our fair share to help the customers.”
“Whether President Trump was a Democrat or Republican, I have to have faith in my president and that’s what I choose to do,” Paddock said.
He also stressed the importance of these tariffs allowing for products to be made in the United States.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to get back with manufacturing and have an opportunity to have a great middle-class life and increase their compensation over the course of time,” Paddock said.
But Leah Ashburn, the president and CEO of Highland Brewing in North Carolina, said moving to American production is not feasible in all industries, especially her company, which relies on aluminum to make beer cans. While there are existing aluminum manufacturers in the United States, Canada is still the fourth-largest primary aluminum provider, behind China, India and Russia, according to the Canadian government.
In 2021, the United States accounted for less than 2% of global aluminum production, according to a Congressional Research Service Report.
“The U.S. simply can’t pivot to making aluminum cans,” Ashburn told WLOS. “Mining is not done here. Aluminum is 95% brought in from other countries, and we are dependent on Canada. The effort to make aluminum here would be complex, costly and take a lot of time. It won’t come soon enough.”
She also said her business cannot raise their prices because consumers have “hit their limit on what they’re going to pay for a six-pack.”
The 10% baseline tariff rate goes into effect on April 5, according to senior White House officials. The “kind reciprocal” tariffs go into effect April 9 at 12:01 a.m., officials said, and will affect roughly 60 countries.
ABC News’ Jaclyn Lee, Alexandra Hutzler, Lauren Lantry and Michael Pappano contributed to this report
Andy Alfaro/The Modesto Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — After investigating the case for more than a year, the Los Angeles Innocence Project has filed voluminous evidence it says shows Scott Peterson did not murder his wife and unborn son in 2002.
In a nearly 400-page petition to the California Court of Appeals, filed Friday night, the LA Innocence Project argued Scott Peterson is innocent and his conviction should be overturned.
Laci Peterson, who was 27 years old and eight months pregnant, disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002. Her body was found in San Francisco Bay in April 2003.
Scott Peterson, now 52, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife and second-degree murder in the death of their unborn son. A jury found him guilty following a six-month trial in 2004.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project claims Scott Peterson was denied his rights to due process and a fair trial because jurors did not hear evidence over two decades ago that they argue could have affected the outcome of the trial, and police and prosecutors did not fairly investigate the case, and even destroyed possibly critical evidence.
“In my opinion, once the police locked onto Mr. Peterson as the prime suspect, they had no interest in finding evidence showing that someone other than Scott may have abducted Laci Peterson because that evidence did not fit with their working theory of the case,” LA Innocence Project director Paula Mitchell stated in the filing. “In addition to ignoring the eyewitness reports, the police turned a blind eye to other exculpatory evidence that would have exonerated Mr. Peterson.”
She said she believes police press releases included information “indicating to the public that police did not believe Mr. Peterson’s alibi, almost from day one.”
“This created a domino effect and ultimately created a tidal wave of media attention focused on Mr. Peterson as the prime suspect in the case,” she continued.
In their filing, the LA Innocence Project claims they have new scientific evidence that shows the date of the death of the Petersons’ unborn child was later than claimed at trial, and that an expert in water movement can prove that Laci Peterson’s body was not dumped where police said it was in December 2004 — two points they say would undermine the prosecution’s case.
“This new evidence undermines the prosecution’s entire circumstantial case against Petitioner, and shows that the jury relied on false evidence, including false scientific evidence, to convict him,” the petition states. One of the attorneys on the case said that in her entire career, she has never seen exculpatory evidence this strong.
The filing also makes multiple claims of new evidence and witnesses involving two crimes they say happened around the same time as Laci Peterson’s disappearance near the Petersons’ home — a burglary at a neighbor’s home and a burned van in Modesto’s Airport District.
Last year, a judge did not let them test for Laci Peterson’s DNA on a bloodstained mattress found in the van, so his attorneys do not know if her DNA is on that mattress. Prosecutors have argued that testing on one of the mattress cloths found male DNA, so no further testing would be required. The LA Innocence Project said it has sought “more precise DNA testing to determine if there is a link to the crimes in this case.”
A judge did grant them access to review some discovery in the case from the trial in 2004, including police interview transcripts and case files.
“Every aspect of the prosecution’s theory as to how the crimes in this case were committed has now been shown to be false,” the petition states.
The petition also includes a 126-page declaration from Scott Peterson, who did not testify during his trial, in which he maintains his innocence and says he was wrongfully convicted of murder.
“It is important to me that whoever killed my wife and son be found and held accountable,” he stated. “If whoever committed such violence against Laci and Conner is still at large they are a danger to public safety. It is also important to me that I clear my name and my family’s name because I did not and could never harm or kill my family.”
The filing asks the court to vacate the judgment and sentences, among other possible forms of relief.
The LA Innocence Project also submitted an application seeking permission from the court to file the oversized petition, as it is in excess of the allowed 25,500 words.
The Court of Appeal said Monday that a decision on the application may take several days. If the application is granted, the court said it will then file the petition and lodge the exhibits. If the application is denied, it will reject the petition but may allow a shorter one to be filed.
The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, said it won’t comment on the petition until it is filed by the court and they read it.
Scott Peterson has previously appealed his conviction, claiming he received an unfair trial based on possible jury misconduct.
A judge denied him a new trial in 2022 following his appeal on stealth juror accusations.
Prosecutors and police who were involved in the original trial have stood behind the 2004 conviction.
Scott Peterson was initially sentenced to death for the murders. In 2020, the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence, citing that his jury was improperly screened for bias against the death penalty, according to court documents. He was later resentenced to life in prison without parole.
(NEW YORK) — April may be known for its rain showers — but when the clouds part, nighttime skygazers can enjoy meteor showers and other dazzling displays all month long, according to astronomers.
Viewers in the Northern Hemisphere will be treated to simultaneous meteor showers this month. Fireballs from the Lyrids and the Eta Aquarids will be streaking through the sky at the same time from April 20 to 26, according to NASA.
The Lyrids originate from the Comet Thatcher and peak during late April, when they release about 18 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
Viewers should look for the Lyrids during the darkest hours, after moonset and before predawn, astronomers say. Lyrids appear to radiate near the star Vega.
The Eta Aquarids originate from the Comet Halley and typically peak during early May every year, releasing about 50 meteors per hour at their peak, according to NASA. They are also known for their speed, traveling nearly 41 miles per second through the atmosphere.
Astronomers recommend viewing the Eta Aquarids during the predawn hours. Look toward Aquarius, where the radiance of the Eta Aquarids appears to originate from. The Eta Aquarids will be active from April 20 to May 21.
Early April is also a good time to attempt the “Messier Marathon,” a challenge in which observers attempt to view as many of the 110 Messier objects as possible — including nebulae, star clusters and galaxies, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Other notable events will take place in early April.
On Wednesday, the Pleiades star cluster appears near the Moon, according to EarthSky. On Thursday, the moon will align with Jupiter.
Several celestial objects will form a line in April. On Saturday — as well as from April 11 to 12 — the moon and Mars will come together and be joined by twin stars Castor and Pollux, according to EarthSky.
In addition, the sun’s magnetic field is still in its solar maximum, making northern lights events more frequent. Peak solar activity is expected until March 2026.
The events will be visible from the Northern Hemisphere by both telescope and the naked eye, according to astronomers.
