Biden pardons nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders
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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in history, after announcing Friday that he was pardoning nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders.
Biden said in the announcement — which came just three days before his term ends — that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses and “serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”
He did not provide additional details as to the exact number of people who would be affected by the clemency action, timelines involved or any of the qualifying criteria used for assessing the pardons.
“Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden wrote.
In the 1980s, Biden supported several bills that increased penalties for drug users, including one that essentially lengthened sentences for crack cocaine users, predominantly African-Americans, as compared to those convicted of using powder cocaine, who were predominantly white.
Congress has since tried to address sentencing disparities through the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 and the First Step Act of 2018.
“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” he said, with no direct mention of his prior record.
He also acknowledged that the decision would set a historic precedent.
“With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history,” Biden said in the statement.
Hinting he’s not done yet with his pardon power, Biden also wrote that he will “continue to review additional commutations and pardons.”
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has blocked the removal of a Palestinian activist from the United States while weighing a petition challenging his arrest, court documents show.
Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Columbia University over the weekend, despite having a green card, his attorney told ABC News, sparking an outcry from civil rights groups.
ICE agents arrested Khalil — a leader in the Manhattan university’s encampment movement — on Saturday night, claiming that his student visa had been revoked, his attorney, Amy Greer, said in a statement to ABC News.
However, Khalil is in the United States on a green card and not on a student visa, Greer said Sunday. Despite informing agents about his legal status, ICE detained him, she said.
President Donald Trump claimed Khalil was a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and said this is the “first arrest of many to come” in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday.
“We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again,” he added.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Khalil is a former Columbia University graduate student and was arrested by ICE “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
“Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” McLaughlin said in a statement Sunday night. “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also shared an article about Khalil on Sunday night and posted on X, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Baher Azmy, one of the lawyers representing Khalil, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
“So setting aside the false and preposterous premise that advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights and to plead with public officials to stop an ongoing genocide constitutes alignment with Hamas, his speech is absolutely protected by the Constitution, and it should be chilling to everyone that the United States government could punish or try to deport someone because they disapprove of the speech they’re engaged in,” Azmy told ABC News on Monday.
Greer said she is challenging Khalil’s arrest, which occurred at his university residence.
“Overnight we filed a habeas corpus petition on Mahmoud’s behalf challenging the validity of his arrest and detention,” she said Sunday.
At one point during a phone call with agents, they hung up on Greer, a representative of her law firm told ABC News.
Greer said they initially did not know Khalil’s whereabouts following his arrest. His wife, who is eight months pregnant and a U.S. citizen, was unable to find him at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was purportedly transferred, Greer said — adding that he might have been transferred to Louisiana.
An attorney for Khalil confirmed to ABC News on Monday that he’s currently being held at a detention facility in Jena, Louisiana.
“ICE’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza,” the lawyer said. “The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, called for Khalil’s release.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s lawless decision to arrest him solely because of his peaceful anti-genocide activism represents a blatant attack on the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, immigration laws, and the very humanity of Palestinians,” the group said in a statement on Monday. “We and other civil rights groups are in communication with Mahmoud’s legal counsel. This fight is just starting.”
Several hundred protesters massed Monday in lower Manhattan to demand his release, carrying signs that said “No political prisoners in the United States” and “Release Mahmoud Khalil.”
“He was arrested for speaking out against genocide,” said Marian Osman, one of the organizers. “We have a right to free speech. Political speech is protected speech in this country.”
After Trump posted that Khalil would not be the last pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested, Osman pledged protesters would not be intimidated.
“We are just getting started,” she said. “I don’t think protesters should be scared. I think protesters should be upset and angry.”
The arrest occurred just days after Trump took to social media threatening to defund universities that allowed “illegal protests” and claiming “agitators” will be sent back to their home countries.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on [sic] the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump posted on Truth Social on March 4.
Columbia released the following statement on Sunday: “There have been reports of ICE around campus. Columbia has and will continue to follow the law. Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings.”
“Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community,” the statement continued.
(NEW YORK) — The number of applicants applying to law schools in the United States has increased dramatically in 2025 compared to last year and some experts believe an easier entrance exam, the soft economy and what they describe as a “Trump bump” are factors fueling the spike.
According to the Law School Admission Council, the number of applicants for law school has jumped more than 20% from 2024.
What’s behind the spike?
“I don’t think anyone actually knows definitively because I think there’s probably multiple factors at play,” Anna Ivey, a college and law school admissions consultant, told ABC News.
Ivey said the last time there was such a large increase in the number of law school applicants was during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
“We called that the ‘Trump bump.’ There were a lot of people who thought it was a good time to flock to law school. Anecdotally, I can say there were certainly some portion of law school applicants who were motivated because of what they were perceiving happening in the administration,” Ivey said. “I suspect we’re having another ‘Trump bump.’ Now that he’s back in office, I would not be surprised if that’s happening at scale.”
Ivey said the mass layoffs at federal government agencies may have prompted many of the fired workers to go to law school.
“This administration is perhaps contributing more than the previous Trump administration because of all of those mass layoffs in the greater D.C. area — all those mass layoffs of very capable civil servants,” Ivey said.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that applicants to the nation’s nearly 200 law schools are up 20.5% compared with last year. The newspaper reported that Georgetown University Law Center received 14,000 applications to fill 650 spots, while the University of Michigan Law School received the most applications in its 166-year history.
Ann Levine, a law school admissions consultant who worked for 25 years as a law school admissions director, said she believes the boost in applicants is related more to what the climate is on college campuses than a “Trump bump.”
“What I’m seeing in my work with students is more related to the insecurities they feel on campus and also just the state of the world in terms of what their prospects are financially with jobs,” Levine told ABC News. “I think that getting a traditional job with benefits and a good salary has kind of fallen away. These are kids who have grown up with the gig economy, these are kids who were in high school and college during COVID, mostly high school. So their formative years have been very insecure.”
Both Levine and Ivey said changes to the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) over the past five years are also a factor in the increase in applications.
Ivey said the elimination of the LSAT logic games section helped increase scores. But Levine said the biggest changes in the LSAT were increasing the number of times a would-be legal scholar can take the test from three to five times in an admissions cycle.
“That has a ripple effect for everyone applying to law school, and that has a ripple effect for not just the top schools but for the whole food chain and for the whole ecosystem of law schools,” Ivey said.
Levine said another significant change in the LSAT is allowing people to take the test digitally instead of in person. She also noted that the LSAT allows far more accommodations for students with disabilities.
“You have a huge number of people getting more time to do the LSAT,” Levine said. “This used to be a very time-constrained test. And now you have more and more people getting double time, extended time, time and a half, more breaks. There are all kinds of things you can ask for that help them improve their scores.”
But the increase in applicants is making it harder for students to get accepted to law school, Ivey said.
“It’s not a great time to be an applicant, unfortunately,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Families are gearing up for spring break travel, with 173 million Americans expected to take to the skies in March and April.
Whether you’re packing for a relaxing beach vacation or preparing to explore a new city, here’s what you need to know before heading to the airport:
U.S. airlines expect to carry 173 million passengers from March 1 to April 30 — up 4% from the same time last year, according to Airlines for America.
Airfare for March and April is up compared to last year. The average price per ticket is now $280, which is a 4% increase from the same time last year, according to Hopper.
The cheapest day of the week to fly for both domestic and international travel is Tuesday, according to Expedia. Passengers who fly on Tuesday instead of Saturday and Sunday can save about 15% on average.
The first two weekends of March are the cheapest travel weekends this spring, according to Hopper.
The busiest and most expensive time to fly in the U.S. will be the week of Wednesday, April 2, according to Expedia.
Southwest Airlines said it’s expecting to fly more than 8.2 million passengers between March 8 and March 23. Southwest predicts March 20 will be its busiest day in that time period.
The top destination in the U.S. is Orlando, Florida, followed by Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles and New York, according to Expedia.
