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(WASHINGTON) — Telesforo Cerero-Palacios is a home renovator in Minnesota who says he has no reported criminal history, so he was shocked to learn the Department of Homeland Security listed him as one of the “worst of the worst” detained immigrants in the U.S. who have serious offenses. 

“What happened here? Why does their system say this about you?” Cerero-Palacios, 53, recalled after a relative saw him on the list.

The DHS website features thousands who the agency claims are the “worst” individuals, including a photo of Cerero-Palacios with his alleged crime, “dangerous drugs.”

However, a DHS government document showed that Cerero-Palacio has no criminal history. The document, reviewed by ABC News, is known as a “Record of Deportable/Inadmissible Alien,” which is created by the agency when individuals are detained.

Cerero-Palacios said he has never been accused of any drug-related offense and an ABC News review of criminal records in Minnesota found several traffic and parking tickets and one small claim case, but did not turn up any drug-related charges.

In an interview conducted in Spanish, Cerero-Palacios told ABC News that agents entered his home on April 7, 2025, looking to detain a relative, but that’s when he was asked about his immigration status. He said he told officials he was undocumented and was subsequently detained.  

The DHS document appears to corroborate his account, stating that deportation officers working with the Drug Enforcement Agency were conducting fugitive operations at his address when they interviewed him about his immigration status.  

“During the interview, CERERO freely admitted that he did not have any documents that would allow him to reside in the United States legally,” the document said.

It also states that in 1998, Cerero-Palacios was arrested for giving a police officer a false name, but the case was dismissed in 2000. 

The document makes no mention that he’s ever been accused of any drug-related charges. 

“CERERO claims and appears to be in good health and takes no medication. CERERO does not use narcotics,” the document says.

Despite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson citing his 1998 arrest in a statement shared with ABC News, DHS appears to have issued him a non-immigrant visa three times, until 2015, the document showed.  

“This illegal alien was previously arrested for giving a false name to a peace officer. The FBI number connected to this drug charge is linked to multiple aliases, including Telesforo Cerero-Palacios. We will give you more information on this case shortly,” the ICE spokesperson told ABC News. 

It’s unclear what drug charge the spokesperson was referring to. Days after ABC News began asking questions about its inclusion of Cerero-Palacios on its “worst of the worst” database, DHS appears to have removed Cerero-Palacios from the list.

DHS did not respond when asked if he was erroneously placed on the list and has not followed up with any additional information, despite repeated attempts by ABC News to obtain one. 

Cerero-Palacios spent 16 days in immigration detention last year and was released after posting a bond, Cerero-Palacios’ attorney, Gloria Contreras Edin said.

“What is interesting is we come to find that he’s on ‘worst of the worst’ so it’s like, why is he on there,” Contreras Edin told ABC News. “They would have never released him if he had been a drug dealer. They would have never let him out on a bond and then I wonder how many other people are they doing that to.”

Cerero-Palacios told ABC News that his inclusion on the website prompted him to stay at home except to go to work.

“I was afraid to leave the home thinking that they might detain me again,” Cerero-Palacios said.

Contreras Edin shared a letter with ABC News from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that said a background search using her client’s fingerprints, name, and date of birth “indicates that no record was found.” 

The letter says the search does not preclude any information being available at the county or city level.

“I have to believe in my heart that it was an error or a mistake, but it’s such a significant error and such a significant mistake that it worries me that they may be doing this to other people,” Contreras Edin said. 

DHS launched the “worst of the worst” website in December, promising to allow users to “search through some of the hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens who have been arrested across all 50 states,” the agency said in a press release.  

Since then, the database has grown to include more than 30,000 people. DHS has used the information on the website to justify its expansion of immigration enforcement operations such as “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota, where two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal agents during immigration operations.  

Meanwhile, Cerero-Palacios is still in immigration proceedings and has a hearing about his case in April. He says the government’s claims about him have affected him profoundly. 

“Imagine how many others have seen my photo? My reputation is ruined, they’ll say ‘Oh, I thought he was a hard worker, but he’s involved with drugs,'” he said.

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(NEW YORK) — Measurements of coastal sea-level height around the world may be higher than scientists previously thought, according to new research.

Past research may even have underestimated coastal sea level heights around the world by an average of .3 meters, or about 1 feet, a study published Wednesday in Nature found.

Sea levels in some areas in the Global South — regions such as Asia and the South Pacific — could be up to 3 feet higher than previously assumed, according to the paper.

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that ocean levels may increase by between 0.28 meters and 1 meter by 2100. Human-amplified climate change is the primary cause for present-day rising sea levels, climate research shows.

However, assessments of coastal sea-level often assume overall sea levels rather than the direct measurements of sea-level height in specific regions, according to the paper.

Researchers from Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands analyzed 385 pieces of peer-reviewed scientific literature on coastal exposure and hazard impact assessments published between 2009 and 2025 and calculated the difference between commonly assumed and actual measured coastal sea level.

They found that 90% of all studies relied on assumed sea levels based on gravitational models — or geoids — rather than using the measured sea level, according to the paper.

Earth’s gravitational models only account for gravity and Earth rotation and do not account for other factors that determine local sea levels, such as tides, current and winds.

Less than 9% of the existing studies combined land elevation measurements and sea level measurements, but those studies appeared to suffer from conversion errors and data alignment issues, Katharina Seeger a geographer studying flood hazards and risks at Wageningen University & Research in The Netherlands and co-author of the study, said during a press conference Tuesday.

Sea level was found to be underrepresented by .24 to .27 meters, depending on the model used. Some discrepancies were found to be as high as 5.5 meters to 7.6 meters, the researchers said.

The underrepresentations were particularly noteworthy in regions like Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific.

Coastal sea heights were also underrepresented in Latin America, the west coast of North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.

The new estimates could put up to 37% more land below sea level, impacting 77 million to 132 million people globally, the researchers said.

Nearly 40% of the U.S. population lives near the coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Coastal subsidence is often underrepresented in flooding models, a 2024 study published in Nature found. The inundation coastal regions will experience due to rising sea levels may actually be worse than previously thought when factoring in how rapidly the land is sinking, according to the study.

Large cities surrounded by water — like Boston, New Orleans and San Francisco — will be among the regions that could experience flooding in the near future due to land elevation changes combined with sea level rise — about 4 millimeters per year, the 2024 study found.

The sinking is expected to cause structural damage to most existing properties, the authors said.

Parts of low-lying Florida, such as Miami, are already dealing with more frequent and impactful high tide flooding events. High tide flooding, the overflow or excess accumulation of water that covers typically dry coastal land during times of high tide, is happening more often in many coastal communities, even on generally quiet weather days, according to NOAA.

Miami showed the greatest share of exposure to flooding, with up to 122,000 people and up to 81,000 properties that could be at risk of flooding by 2050.

The latest research indicates that re-evaluation of the methodology of existing assessments for characterizing sea-level rise impact is needed, the paper noted. This could have implications for policymakers, climate finance and coastal adaption plans, the scientists said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is proposing a new policy that would seek to limit the ability of state bar associations to launch ethics probes into DOJ attorneys, according to a new document posted Wednesday in the Federal Register. 

The proposal, which comes amid growing scrutiny of the department’s attorneys and whether they’re complying with ethical obligations in enforcing the Trump administration’s agenda, would seek to empower Attorney General Pam Bondi to request that state bar investigations be suspended pending a DOJ review of any originating complaint. 

In the event the state bar authorities “refuse” to suspend their investigations, the proposal says, the Justice Department “shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering.” 

It’s not immediately clear what “appropriate action” the department could take to influence state-level proceedings, and the proposed rule does not elaborate further. 

The proposal argues that the bar complaint and investigation process has been “weaponized” by political activists in recent years to ensnare officials across DOJ’s ranks into costly and time-consuming proceedings. 

“This unprecedented weaponization of the State bar complaint process risks chilling the zealous advocacy by Department attorneys on behalf of the United States, its agencies, and its officers,” the proposed rule said. “That chilling effect, in turn, would interfere with the broad statutory authority of the Attorney General to manage and supervise Department attorneys.” 

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

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(DILLEY, Texas) — Emergency calls that were placed in recent months from a South Texas family detention center and obtained by ABC News reveal a series of medical emergencies involving pregnant women and young children that advocates say underscore their concerns about the sprawling ICE facility.

The 911 audio calls from Frio County, dating from October 2025 through February 2026, document medical staff at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley requesting ambulances for migrant detainees experiencing seizures, fainting and respiratory distress.

In one call from January, a staff member requested assistance for a 17-month-old child.

“I’m calling for a little kid going through respiratory distress,” the caller told dispatchers.

In other calls, medical staff asked for ambulances for a 6-year-old boy with lethargy and a high fever, a 14-month-old in respiratory distress, and a 22-month-old with a fever and low oxygen levels.

“We need an ambulance,” one caller said. “We have a child with a high fever.”

Immigrant advocates, medical professionals and lawmakers have raised concerns in recent weeks about conditions at the South Texas facility. 

ABC News recently interviewed a couple who said their 1-year-old daughter contracted COVID-19 and RSV during their 60-day detention. The family alleges medical staff at Dilley dismissed their daughter’s symptoms.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who visited 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos while he was detained with his father at Dilley, also recently raised concerns about a 2-month-old infant before the child’s release. After Castro’s statements, detention center staffers made several calls to Frio County regarding the infant.

“Hi, I’m calling about a child that is at the detention center, a baby that is very sick, and I want to know if you guys can go do a child wellness check,” one caller said.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security, which operates the nation’s migrant detention centers, disputed allegations made by detained families and advocates about Dilley. In a statement, DHS said that detainees have “ongoing access to on-site medical professionals, including physicians, pediatricians, nurses, and mental health care providers.”

“The truth is this facility provided proper medical care for all detainees including access to a pediatrician,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “The fact is being in detention is a choice. We encourage all parents to take control of their departure by using the CBP Home app and receiving a free flight home and $2,600.

The 911 records also detail emergencies involving pregnant detainees. One call reports a woman experiencing a seizure, while another describes a woman three months pregnant who had lost consciousness.

“She is non-responsive. They found her on the ground,” a staff member told the dispatcher.

“We have a middle-aged woman pregnant and she’s seizing,” a medical staffer said in another call. 

As of last month, there were about 1,400 people being held at Dilley, including children and parents, according to RAICES, an immigrant legal advocacy group. The facility was closed during the Biden administration and reopened last year as the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures increased.

Dr. Anita Patel, a board-certified pediatrician who recently sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem calling for the release of all children at Dilley, said detained families “are not receiving the standard of care.”

“What is clearly evident is they have no ability to recognize potentially lethal or emergent situations, and they have no clinical acumen to say when something is a medical emergency,” Dr. Patel said of the calls.

“What I am hearing from families and what we are witnessing is a human rights catastrophe,” she told ABC News. “They don’t have access to medical care, they don’t have access to appropriate nutrition; all of these standard humanitarian policies stated by the U.N. all the way down to laws are not being followed.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the 911 calls.

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