Category: National

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Maryland has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman heard arguments Wednesday over a request by five pregnant undocumented women to block Trump’s Day-1 executive order seeking to redefine the meaning of the 14th Amendment to exclude the children of undocumented immigrants from birthright citizenship.

“The denial of the precious right to citizenship will cause irreparable harm,” Judge Boardman said in handing down her order. “It has been said the right to U.S. citizenship is a right no less precious than life or liberty. If the court does not enjoin enforcement of the executive order, children subject to the order will be denied the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship and their parents will face instability.”

“A nationwide injunction is appropriate and necessary because it concerns citizenship,” Judge Boardman said.

The ruling comes after a federal judge in Seattle criticized the Department of Justice for attempting to defend what he called a “blatantly unconstitutional” order and issued a temporary restraining order.

The women and the two nonprofits filed the Maryland lawsuit against the Trump administration last month, arguing that Trump’s executive order violated the constitution and multiple federal laws.

“If allowed to go into effect, the Executive Order would throw into doubt the citizenship status of thousands of children across the country, including the children of Individual Plaintiffs and Members,” the lawsuit said.

Lawyers for the Department of Justice have claimed that Trump’s executive order attempts to resolve “prior misimpressions” of the 14th Amendment, arguing that birthright citizenship creates a “perverse incentive for illegal immigration.” If permitted, Trump’s executive order would preclude U.S. citizenship from the children of undocumented immigrants or immigrants whose presence in the United States is lawful but temporary.

“Text, history, and precedent support what common sense compels: the Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting 
American citizenship to, inter alia: the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws,” DOJ lawyers argued.

The executive order had already been put on hold by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle.

“I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar can state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind,” said Coughenour. “Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made?”

Because Judge Coughenour’s order only blocked the executive order temporarily, Judge Boardman will consider a longer-lasting preliminary injunction of the executive order.

“The hearing that’s coming up is a proceeding that essentially puts a longer pause,” explained Loyola Marymount University professor Justin Levitt. “It’s an order saying, ‘Don’t implement this,’ because the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood that they’ll succeed when we finally get to a final resolution, but many substantive legal claims are effectively decided on preliminary injunctions.”

With Trump vowing to appeal a ruling that finds his executive order unconstitutional, a preliminary injunction — if granted after Wednesday’s hearing — could be his first opportunity to appeal to a higher court.

Members of the Trump administration spent months crafting this executive order with the understanding that it would inevitably be challenged and potentially blocked by lower courts, according to sources familiar with their planning.

While the lawsuit challenging the executive order in Seattle was brought by four state attorneys general, the five pregnant undocumented women who filed the Maryland case argue that they would be uniquely harmed by the order. With individual states and undocumented women suffering different harms under the order, the cases could present different reasons to justify blocking the order.

Monica — a medical doctor from Venezuela with temporary protected status who joined the lawsuit under a pseudonym — said she joined the suit because she fears her future child will become stateless, with her home country facing an ongoing humanitarian, political and economic crisis.

“I’m 12 weeks pregnant. I should be worried about the health of my child. I should be thinking about that primarily, and instead my husband and I are stressed, we’re anxious and we’re depressed about the reality that my child may not be able to become a U.S. citizen,” she said.

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(NEW ALBANY, Ohio) — A man suspected of killing one person and injuring five others in a shooting at an Ohio manufacturing facility has been apprehended following an overnight manhunt, police said Wednesday.

New Albany police said they responded to an active shooter report at a New Albany facility run by KDC/One, a beauty products manufacturer, around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

One victim was found dead inside the building and five others were hospitalized in unknown conditions, police said.

About 150 employees were safely evacuated, police said.

The suspect, Bruce Reginald Foster III, was taken into custody Wednesday morning at a home in Columbus, police said.

“This is a heartbreaking and tragic situation,” New Albany Police Chief Greg Jones said in a statement. “We train for situations like this, and while it is something no community ever wants to face, we were prepared to act quickly and effectively. We will continue working to bring this situation to a full resolution.”
 

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(NEW YORK) — A storm is set to dump sleet, freezing rain and snow on the Midwest on Wednesday before striking the Northeast on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

At least 22 states from Oklahoma to Vermont are under ice and snow alerts. An ice storm warning has been issued for the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to Pennsylvania, where significant ice accumulation is possible.

The storm begins Wednesday morning in the Plains, from Oklahoma to Missouri, and will move into the rest of the Midwest, including Chicago, in the afternoon and evening.

By Wednesday night, the icy mix will span from Detroit to Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia. The storm will reach New York City by early Thursday morning, making travel extremely treacherous.

The Interstate 95 corridor is under a winter weather advisory for 1 to 2 inches of snow, as well as a glazing of ice.

By mid-morning, the snow will change to rain, and the rain will end by noon.

For New England and the inland Northeast, icy roads will last into the afternoon.

Another storm with ice and snow is possible for the Midwest and the Northeast this weekend.

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(NEW YORK) — Trevell Coleman, known professionally in the rap music world as G. Dep, is best known for his hit songs ‘Special Delivery’ and ‘Let’s Get It’. But his success was overshadowed by the overwhelming guilt he felt for shooting a man in 1993 and he decided one day in 2010 that he could no longer bear that burden.

Coleman, who joined P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Records in 1998, was only 18 years old when he shot a stranger, in the chest with a .40-caliber handgun near the James Weldon Johnson Houses, located on Park Avenue and E. 114th Street in Harlem.

The case remained cold for 17 years until Coleman made the shocking decision to confess to his crime.

“I think I was just at a point, you know, where it was like enough is enough,” Coleman told ABC News’ Deborah Roberts from prison in 2013.

Coleman said he ambushed the man during an attempted robbery and then fled the scene. He wondered for years whether the man had survived the shooting. After a weeklong trial in 2012, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

At the end of 2023, after serving more than 13 years, G. Dep was shown mercy. With the original prosecutor’s and judge’s support, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul granted him clemency.

He walked free in April 2024.

“It’s still things that I have to,” Coleman said. “You know, I would like to give back to the society.”

Coleman, at 50, is searching for a new beginning. He earned an associate’s degree in prison and has the support of his wife, Laticia, and his adult children.

Coleman now works in music production at SCAN-Harbor, a nonprofit organization serving at-risk children and families in Harlem and the South Bronx.

He speaks to young people and shares his story to motivate them to avoid a life of crime, emphasizing the importance of staying out of prison.

“You take somebody’s life like, what do you do to make up for that,” Coleman told SCAN-HARBOR youth. “But, you know, all you can do is make steps toward it, you know, making it better.”

While he now tries to help guide vulnerable kids down the right path, Coleman understands the harsh reality that many end up in prison — some even for life.

“Yeah, he did something wrong,” Lew Zuchman, Scan-Harbor executive director, said. “But… that his conscience, which moved him to turn himself in, is very special to me. And I’m hoping that he can… really share this and explain this to our young people.”

Federal and state officials have debated suitable sentences for youth offenders who have committed violent crimes, as has the Supreme Court in a series of rulings.

In 2012, Miller v. Alabama found that mandatory life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders was unconstitutional. Four years later, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Montgomery v. Louisiana that the 2012 Miller v. Alabama decision should apply retroactively to juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole.

Since the rulings, more than 1,000 juvenile lifers have been released. As of today, 28 states and Washington, D.C., have banned such sentences.

“I was a follower in a way,” Coleman said. “Like, I learned that, you know, I wasn’t really thinking and I wasn’t really being an individual.”

While Coleman and others were given a second chance, youth in other states have more challenges. Pennsylvania is one of the states where regulations for young offenders remain among the strictest, making advocacy even more imperative.

Pennsylvania had the highest number of so-called “juvenile lifers” of any state at the time of Miller v. Alabama, with the majority coming from Philadelphia.

In Pennsylvania, children as young as 10 can be charged, prosecuted, and convicted as adults. This is something that John Pace, a senior reentry coordinator at the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, highlights.

At the age of 17, Pace was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree homicide. He served 31 years and earned a college degree while incarcerated.

“The ’80s was a time period in which the war on drugs was very prevalent,” Pace said. “It made it easy for legislators to create laws that would make it easy to prosecute young people as adults.”

Pace now helps mentor incarcerated youth through the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project. One of those youths is 26-year-old Raequan Deal, born and raised in Philadelphia. In 2016, when he was 17, Deal was convicted of two felonies and served a total of twenty-two months in an adult county jail.

While incarcerated, Deal found support from the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, an organization dedicated to preventing children like him from being placed in adult jails and prisons and advocating for the release of “juvenile lifers.”

“Being in jail was no fun place, it can make or break you. Luckily it made me, you know,” Deal said. “So I kind of see though I went to prison, I came out as a better person.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, senior administration officials told ABC News, fulfilling a promise that was at the center of his 2024 campaign.

The order will establish sweeping mandates on sex and sports policy and will direct federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, to interpret federal Title IX rules as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports categories, according to a White House document on the upcoming executive order obtained by ABC News.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” sources said, will mandate immediate enforcement, including against schools and athletic associations that “deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms,” according to the document, and will direct State attorneys general to identify best practices for enforcing the mandate.

The White House expects sports bodies like the NCAA to change their rules in accordance with the order once it is signed, according to a senior administration official.

“We’re a national governing body and we follow federal law,” NCAA President Charlie Baker told Republican senators at a hearing in December. “Clarity on this issue at the federal level would be very helpful.”

Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Wednesday afternoon at a signing ceremony featuring athletes, coaches and advocates who have campaigned against transgender participation in women’s sports, sources said. More than 60 attendees, including former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, will join the ceremony.

“We want to take actions to affirmatively protect women’s sports,” deputy assistant to the president and senior policy strategist May Mailman told ABC News, who said that the executive order is designed to further overturn Biden-era policies that required schools and athletic organizations to treat gender identity and sex as equivalent. She noted that a court ruling determined such requirements were not necessary, and that the president’s executive order would explicitly ban them.

Trump’s executive order will lead to increased discrimination and harassment, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This order could expose young people to harassment and discrimination, emboldening people to question the gender of kids who don’t fit a narrow view of how they’re supposed to dress or look,” Robinson said. “Participating in sports is about learning the values of teamwork, dedication, and perseverance. And for so many students, sports are about finding somewhere to belong. We should want that for all kids – not partisan policies that make life harder for them.”

Mailman said the executive order’s goal was “not to make sure that everybody conforms to their sex stereotype as they’re playing sports” but to “protect women’s sports,” adding that options like co-ed categories would still be available.

If universities don’t comply, the White House warned they could not only lose federal funding but also face legal action.

“If schools don’t comply, it’s not just that they’re at risk of DOJ-based actions,” Mailman said. “Title Nine has a private right of action component behind it, so if schools are violating the law, they’re at risk of lawsuits from their female students, that is going to actually be more than just taking away federal funding. These are multi-million dollar lawsuits.”

The executive order also directs the Secretary of State to push for changes within the International Olympic Committee to maintain single-sex competition and the Department of Homeland Security to review visa policies to prevent transgender women from identifying as female, which would allow them to compete in women’s sports, according to the document detailing the order.

The order is the most aggressive move yet by Trump to fulfill one of his central campaign promises regarding transgender athletes in women’s sports.

Trump signed an executive order last week seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19.

The order would move to restrict medical institutions that receive federal funding from providing such care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries — calling on the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to “take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

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(GREENCASTLE, PA) — Police in Pennsylvania are trying to crack the case after 100,000 organic eggs worth upwards of $40,000 were stolen from the back of a trailer over the weekend.

The theft took place in Greencastle, Pennsylvania — located approximately 65 miles southwest of the state capital of Harrisburg — when the eggs were stolen from the rear of a distribution trailer on Saturday around 8:40 p.m. while it was parked outside Pete & Gerry’s Organics.

Pennsylvania State Police Chambersburg responded to the location and discovered that around 100,000 eggs worth an estimated $40,000 had been stolen.

Authorities did not offer any insight into how such a large theft could have occurred unnoticed or if they have any potential leads in the case.

Pete & Gerry’s Organics has been around as a brand since the early 1980s but transitioned to organic farming in 1997, according to their website.

“Setting a higher standard for farming practices and animal care across an entire industry doesn’t happen without ruffling a few feathers — we squawk the squawk and walk the walk,” Pete & Gerry’s Organics said. “Pete & Gerry’s is recognized as a 2022 Best For The World B Corp in the Community impact area, scoring in the top 5% of their size group for their efforts in the community, including charitable giving, investment in diversity, and educational opportunities.”

The company works with over 200 independent, family owned and operated farms in our network, mainly located across New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, the company said.

“These farms are typically run by a single family and small enough for each partner farmer to manage, delivering hands-on care to our hens, while still leading rich and fulfilling lives,” Pete and Gerry’s Organics said.

The investigation is currently ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact Pennsylvania State Police Chambersburg.

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(NEW ALBANY, OHIO) — One person was killed and five others were injured in a shooting at a facility in New Albany, Ohio, according to local law enforcement officials, who said they believe they’ve identified a suspect.

New Albany Police said they responded late Tuesday to a facility run by KDC/One, a beauty products manufacturer, for a reported active shooter situation. About 100 people were evacuated from the building.

“Police are finishing evacuating employees from the building,” the department said in an update at about 1:30 a.m. “The suspect is no longer believed to be in the area.”

Six people were transported to local hospitals, Police Chief Greg Jones told reporters at a press conference outside the facility. One of those people died, he said.

Police said they believed they knew who the suspect was, although the person had not been taken into custody.

A firearm was recovered from the scene, Jones said.

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(PHILADELPHIA, Pa.) — It was just a normal Friday evening for Philadelphia father Andre Howard and his 10-year-old son Trey Howard.

Andre Howard picked up Trey Howard and his two younger siblings from school and drove to a nearby Dunkin’.

“I promised him Tuesday that we would get donuts on Friday after school,” Andre Howard told ABC News.

However, as they were leaving the Dunkin’, about to turn on Cottman Avenue, Andre Howard said the family heard a loud bang, quickly accompanied by a “ball of fire” and black smoke. Little did they know, a medical transport jet had just crashed nearby.

Andre Howard attempted to reverse his truck, using the donut shop as a shield to stop flying debris. Then, he heard his son shout something from the backseat of the car.

“I hear my son telling his sister, ‘Get down, baby girl,'” Andre Howard said.

Trey Howard, who is in the fourth grade, used his body as a human shield to protect his younger sister from incoming debris, his father said.

“I turn around and he has metal out the side of his head,” Andre Howard said.

In efforts to protect his younger sister, Trey Howard was hit with a piece of plane debris or glass, with part of it sticking out of his head, his father said.

As Andre Howard attempted to move his son, the metal protruding from Trey Howard’s head fell out, causing blood to gush everywhere, he said. Andre Howard said he wrapped Trey Howard’s head with socks, while someone else lent a shirt — anything to stop the bleeding.

Andre Howard said he flagged down a police officer on the scene, who drove the family to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where Trey Howard underwent emergency brain surgery, and then was transferred to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Andre Howard said he was told there was a high likelihood his son wouldn’t survive.

However, after the procedure and a full weekend in the intensive care unit, Trey Howard was moved to a regular room on Monday and continues to recover from the harrowing event.

“Am I OK? No. Is his mother OK? No. Is his family OK? No. But we are going to be strong for him every step of this process to get him back to full strength,” Andre Howard said.

When Trey Howard was finally able to speak again, the first thing he asked was, ‘Daddy, did I save my sister?'”

Andre Howard said his son’s selfless act of bravery was “something that not a lot of grown men could do” and called his fourth grader his “superhero.”

The hospital is continuing to monitor Trey Howard’s skull, ensuring all of the debris has been removed, his father said. Until he is able to go home, Andre Howard said his son has been getting many visitors — including his teachers and Philadelphia 76ers player Tyrese Maxey.

“Thank God my son is still here. Thank God we didn’t go into the flame,” Andre Howard said. “I’m just happy he is here.”

The plane crash, which involved a medical transport jet, killed all six people on board, as well as one person on the ground. Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash.

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(EDGEWATER, Fla.) — A woman called 911 to report a toddler left alone in a vehicle outside a Florida bar before the mother of the child and her boyfriend were arrested for child neglect, according to newly released audio.

The Edgewater Police Department released the audio of the 911 call along with the body camera footage Monday of what they had called a “disgusting” incident.

The child’s mother, 35-year-old Kristina Vitucci, and her boyfriend, 39-year-old Joshua Harris, were both arrested after Vitucci’s 2-year-old daughter was left in an unlocked vehicle while they sat inside an Edgewater bar drinking for nearly two hours on Jan. 28, according to police.

“I don’t know that there’s an actual emergency, but there’s a baby out here in a car by itself,” the 911 caller can be heard telling the dispatcher.

“I just don’t want anybody to get mad at me. But I just, you know, this is wrong,” the caller said.

“Yeah, I agree,” the dispatcher said.

An officer responded at approximately 8:15 p.m. and reported that the child had been crying in the vehicle and it was unknown where her parent was, according to the body camera footage.

Upon arriving at the vehicle a few minutes later, Harris told officers that he owned the car and that the child’s mother was inside the bar, the body camera footage shows.

When Vitucci subsequently came outside of the bar to the parking lot, an officer told her, “You’ve got an idea of why we’re here,” the footage shows.

“Yeah, she said.

The officer told Vitucci her daughter was fine and to stay with him, as police continued to question the couple about the incident.

They were both arrested for child neglect, a third-degree felony.

Vitucci is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 18 and Harris on Feb. 25, court records show.

ABC News has reached out to their public defenders for comment.

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(PHILADELPHIA) — A Temple University student has been arrested and charged with impersonating an ICE officer after showing up at a residence hall and attempting to enter.

Two “suspicious” males identified themselves as police and ICE agents to dorm security on Saturday, according to Philadelphia police. The individuals were denied access to the residence hall, according to Temple.

A third suspect — identified by police as 22-year-old Aidan Steigelmann, 22 — arrived at the building and spoke with the two suspects, before the three of them left together in a Jaguar SUV.

Two of the three were impersonating ICE officers while the third was recording the interactions, according to Temple University.
Minutes later, university police responded to a report of three suspicious males identifying themselves as police officers and ICE at an Insomnia Cookies store, according to police.

While two of the suspects left the area in a light-colored SUV, Steigelmann was identified, arrested and his vehicle was towed, police said.

“The involved student is on interim suspension. Any student found responsible for this conduct will be subject to disciplinary action under the Student Conduct Code, up to and including expulsion,” Temple University said in a statement.

The investigation is is still active and ongoing, and the two other suspects remain at large. The suspects were wearing shirts with “Police” on the front and “ICE” on the back, police said.

The Philadelphia Police Department asks anyone with information about the case to report it to 215-686-TIPS (8477).

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