Envelopes with white powder found in ICE office do not involve dangerous substances: Officials
Immigration Court building entrance at 26 Federal Plaza in New York. (Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Envelopes containing a white powder that were found at a government building in New York City housing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office did not contain any dangerous substances, officials said Friday.
The incident occurred Thursday afternoon at 26 Federal Plaza, in Manhattan’s Foley Square, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.
The five letters were found at about 4 p.m. in the mailroom of the ICE Enforcement and Removal Office on the ninth floor, according to the FBI.
“In the majority of my experience, most of these incidents turn out to be nothing. However, this matter is not going to be taken lightly,” said Christoper Raia, the FBI assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, who noted that “sending threatening letters of this nature, whether real or a hoax, is a crime.”
Initial testing of the powder indicates it was boric acid, which is commonly used in pesticides and other chemicals and is harmful if eaten, officials told WABC.
Personnel in the ICE ERO office found the envelopes, according to Raia, who said two people were initially exposed. Those two individuals are expected to OK, officials told New York ABC station WABC.
On Friday, Adams told radio station 1010 WINS that “no dangerous substances” were involved in the incident, but said it is “still a serious crime.”
“We are going to make sure the person responsible will be brought to justice,” Adams told 1010 WINS.
Hazmat teams were on the ground on Thursday “to ensure the safety of everyone inside and outside of the building” while awaiting the test results, the mayor said.
The building was evacuated “per standard protocol,” Raia said.
The 41-floor office building is home to ICE’s New York City field office, as well as the FBI’s New York field office and an immigration court. It has made headlines and been the site of frequent protests over ICE operations in the city amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
A so-called “holding facility” for detained migrants is located on the 10th floor of the building. Following allegations of unsanitary conditions there, a federal judge this week ordered the Trump administration to ensure the facility is not overcrowded and that detainees are provided with hygiene products and confidential access to lawyers. The Department of Homeland Security denied the conditions in the facility were subprime.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested in June while observing proceedings at the building’s immigration court. He was accused of assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer but has not been charged.
Arkansas State Police said James Andrew McGann, 28, of Springdale, was arrested in connection with the double slaying of Clinton and Cristen Brink. Courtesy Arkansas State Police
(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — A suspect has been arrested in connection with a double homicide at an Arkansas park, after a married couple was found dead on a walking trail over the weekend, authorities said.
James Andrew McGann, 28, of Springdale, Arkansas, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of capital murder in the killings of 43-year-old Clinton David Brink and his wife, 41-year-old Cristen Amanda Brink, Arkansas State Police announced Wednesday evening.
The Brinks were “fatally attacked” while out hiking with their two daughters at Devil’s Den State Park on July 26, police said. The children, ages 7 and 9, were not harmed in the incident.
McGann was arrested shortly before 5 p.m. local time at a business in Springdale, about 30 miles north of the park, state police said. At a news conference Wednesday night, an official said the business McGann was arrested at was a hair salon.
The official said McGann had recently moved to the area from Oklahoma and had been hired to work at a local school.
Asked about a motive, investigators declined to comment, saying the case is still active and that it would be premature to do so.
“Our entire state is grieving for the tragic loss and senseless and horrific crime that’s taken place,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, adding, “One of the worst experiences that certainly I’ve ever had was making a phone call to the Brink family earlier this week. Nothing like that should ever have taken place.”
Police previously said the suspect was seen leaving the area of the park in a black, four-door sedan, possibly a Mazda, with a license plate covered by tape, police said.
Arkansas State Police had released a composite sketch and photo from behind of a man who was seen in Devil’s Den State Park on Saturday, the day of the killings. Police asked for the public’s help in identifying the man, who they said was wanted for questioning in connection with the double homicide.
The FBI assisted Arkansas State Police with its investigation “by providing additional manpower and specialized resources.”
Police have not yet revealed how the Brinks were killed.
The Brinks had recently moved to Prairie Grove from another state, police said.
The children are safe and in the custody of relatives, according to police.
All trails at Devil’s Den State Park, which were closed following the killings, will remain closed for now, Arkansas Secretary of Parks Shay Lewis said.
The entrance to the state-managed immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz/Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Known for the eponymous reptiles that inhabit the nearby swamps, the migrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” faces the possibility of being shut down over concerns about some of the area’s lesser-known inhabitants — the Everglades’ bats, panthers, and storks.
At a hearing in federal court Wednesday, environmental groups have so far called two witnesses as part of their effort to prove that facility was built without the federally required impact studies.
Attorneys representing Florida officials have argued that the facility was initially funded by, constructed, and managed by the state and is therefore exempt from the National Environmental Policy Act – the main law being used to challenge the facility.
To counter that, the environmental groups called Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who testified that she understood that the Department of Homeland Security was the driving force behind the facility.
During a guided tour she took of the facility last month, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Kevin Guthrie allegedly told Eskamani and other lawmakers that Alligator Alcatraz was built at the direct request of the Department of Homeland Security and in compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“DHS made the request for a facility to be established, and this was the product of that facility,” she testified. “They kept asserting to us that they were following all federal and state guidelines, and ICE inspects our facility.”
Alligator Alcatraz has so far operated in what immigration advocates have described as a jurisdictional gray zone — with the facility funded by the federal government but run by the state of Florida — that they allege allows officials to skirt some legal requirements.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has previously argued that the state of Florida is “implementing” the federal government’s immigration policy with the expectation that the state would be fully reimbursed for the costs of Alligator Alcatraz, but local and federal officials have so far been unable to tell the federal courts who is actually in charge of the facility.
The hearing — at which federal, state, and tribal officials are testifying — comes amid heightened scrutiny of the facility, which was once touted as a “one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”
Located 50 miles west of Miami in the heart of the Florida Everglades, “Alligator Alcatraz” was quickly constructed over a matter of weeks, utilizing hundreds of tents, trailers, and other temporary facilities to potentially house more than 3,000 detainees.
The facility was built on the grounds of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a sparsely used piece of tarmac owned by Miami-Dade County.
Alligator Alcatraz also neighbors land leased to the Miccosukee Indian Tribe, including villages, a school, traditional hunting areas, and sacred sites. The Miccosukee Tribe joined the lawsuit last month, arguing that the facility threatens to damage nearby tribal villages.
The environmental groups and the tribe that brought the case allege that the sprawling facility was built without the federal or state government conducting an environmental impact statement, which is required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), so the public and lawmakers can understand the impact of a project. They also argue that the government failed to get public input on the project.
The Department of Justice has also argued that the environmental groups cannot prove irreparable harm and that NEPA does not give a court the power to block the use of the facility.
Attorneys representing the Florida officials tried to cast doubt on Eskamani’s testimony by arguing she has publicly opposed the policy, including saying at one point that the facility was a “half-billion-dollar anti-immigrant grift.”
“I can definitely see myself saying that on social media,” she told the court about the comments.
Eskamani also testified about the environmental impacts of the facility, which she said was described to her by state officials as an “active construction site.” Miles of barbed wire, tons of freshly laid asphalt, and hundreds of high-power lights peppered the facility.
Eve Samples, the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Everglades, which brought the lawsuit, testified before Eskamani on Wednesday and argued that the environmental impact has already been felt at the site. The construction of the facility brought increased traffic to the sensitive area, and high-power lights have made the facility visible at night from miles away.
The facility sits next to the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Big Cypress Area, ecologically sensitive and protected areas that house threatened species, including the Everglade snail kite, Florida panther, wood stork, and Florida bonneted bat.
Jesse Michael Panuccio, a lawyer representing Florida, tried to blunt her testimony by highlighting that the facility was built on a preexisting airport, where hundreds of planes take off and land daily.
While Wednesday’s hearing is limited to environmental issues — including impacts on the nearby Big Cypress National Preserve — the testimony is expected to shine a light on the operations of the facility and could result in a federal judge ordering the facility to be shut down until the required environmental impact studies are conducted.
Immigrant advocates have alleged that detainees have endured inhumane conditions, including flooded facilities, spoiled food, and sweltering heat — and that they have limited access to their attorneys and are effectively housed in a jurisdictional “black hole.”
(NEW YORK) — An FBI investigation has prompted the closure of several roads, trails and campgrounds in Leavenworth, Washington — including the site where Travis Decker allegedly murdered his three daughters — as the search for the fugitive father nearly reaches the three-month mark, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
In an order posted over the weekend, the U.S. Forest Service said “all of” the Rock Island Campground, along with two other campgrounds, will be closed to “allow the FBI to conduct an ongoing investigation.”
The Seattle FBI office and the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment, but the search area overlaps with where Decker’s truck and the three girls’ bodies were found.
Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were found dead near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington, on June 2, after they left home for a planned visit with their father on May 30, according to police.
The closure began on Sunday morning and will be in effect until Wednesday at approximately 6 a.m., officials said. A list of several roads, trail heads will also be closed off to the public, officials said.
Everyone will be prohibited from entering the closed areas except “any federal, state or local officer or member of an organized rescue or fire-fighting force” or anyone with a U.S. Forest Service permit allowing access to “roads, trails or areas restricted by regulation order,” the forest service said.
The closure of this campground comes one week after the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office released disturbing new details about the crime scene and the DNA evidence that they say indicates Decker, a 32-year-old Army veteran, is the sole suspect.
The U.S. Marshals Service is still offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading directly to Decker’s arrest.
Officials said anyone who sees Decker or knows of his whereabouts should call 911 immediately and not contact or approach him. He is currently wanted for three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, officials said.
Decker is considered armed and dangerous, officials said.
