Ex-FEMA official who was fired over migrants staying in ‘luxury’ hotels files lawsuit
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(WASHINGTON) — A former top FEMA official who was removed as part of the political blowback over payments to New York City for housing migrants in what critics called “luxury hotels” has sued the Trump administration, alleging she was “unlawfully terminated from her position” without due process.
Mary Comans, who served as the FEMA’s chief financial officer since 2017, claims in the suit that her firing led to her being “falsely condemned online” by prominent individuals including tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been overseeing government cost-cutting measures as the head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.
Comans’ lawsuit, filed in the District of Columbia on Tuesday, claims she was terminated “without any warning.” The suit says the government “failed to undertake any process to enable Ms. Comans to appropriately respond” to the allegations, and then put out a press release that she claims was in violation of the privacy act.
“Additionally, the defendants falsely, deliberately, and publicly portrayed Ms. Comans’ actions in such a manner that third parties have asserted her conduct to have been criminal, which is defamation per se, thereby further contributing to the damages she has suffered,” the filing states.
The lawsuit says the press release led to her action being “widely, publicly, and falsely condemned” by online influencers including Musk. The lawsuit includes a screenshot of one of Musk’s tweets replying to a post about Comans, in which he wrote she had committed “A criminal action.”
“Prior to her termination, Ms. Comans was an exemplary employee with absolutely no disciplinary history and had received “Achieved Excellence” ratings for every year that she served as an SES,” the filing states.
Comans has asked a judge for a declaration that DHS and FEMA’s actions were illegal, and has requested monetary damages.
(WASHINGTON) — A Texas man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a flight attendant and a passenger while on board an American Airlines flight earlier this month, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
At approximately 9:00 p.m. on March 5, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department contacted the FBI regarding a disturbance on American Airlines Flight 5574 traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C. — the same flight path as the plane that collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on Jan. 29, killing 67 people.
The suspect, Asterius Mutayoba Rulamka, had allegedly left his assigned seat during the flight and walked to the rear of the plane, where he “engaged with a flight attendant,” according to an FBI affidavit obtained by ABC News.
Rulamka then sat down in the back of the plane and began to yell profanities at the flight attendant, with passengers taking videos of the incident on their cellphones, according to the affidavit.
Upon noticing one passenger filming, Rulamka allegedly started to attack him, grabbing his arms and verbally berating him, the affidavit said. The suspect also removed the passenger’s hat and glasses and struck him “in the face near his left eye, causing bruising and a bloodshot eye,” the FBI said.
The defendant allegedly attempted to swing at the flight attendant he previously assaulted, but the attendant was able to move out of the way before being struck, sustaining a “small laceration to his finger and a broken fingernail” in the process, the affidavit said.
Rulamka then began running up and down the aisles of the cabin, but three passengers and the flight attendants were able to secure the suspect for landing in a seat near his original seat, the affidavit said.
When the flight was arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport, Rulamka allegedly made several statements, including that he “had come to D.C. to speak to President Trump,” the affidavit said.
Rulamka was asked why he wanted to meet with Trump, and he replied that he was “mad,” the affidavit said.
The FBI said Rulamka had a Texas driver’s license, but a criminal history check revealed that the Department of Homeland Security “encountered the defendant in 2014 as a non-immigrant overstay, and immigration proceedings are pending,” the affidavit said.
“On March 5, law enforcement responded to American Eagle Flight 5574 after its arrival in Washington, D.C. (DCA) due to a disruptive customer. We do not tolerate violence, and thank our team members for their professionalism,” American Airlines said in a statement to ABC News.
Rulamka has been charged with “assault by beating, striking and wounding, in violation of the Title 18 United States Code, Section 113(a)(4),” according to the affidavit. A hearing for Rulamka has been scheduled for March 13.
Attorney information was not immediately listed for Rulamka.
(WASHINGTON) — While President Donald Trump’s comments about wanting to “clean out” Gaza and forcibly displace its nearly 2 million Palestinians have stirred outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing among U.S. allies and international law experts, some members of the Arab American community still believe he was a better choice than Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don’t regret having supported the president. He promised us an end to the war, and he was able to get a ceasefire for us in Gaza, and for that we are grateful. Imagine how many hundreds of Palestinians we’ve been able to save because of the ceasefire,” Bishara Bahbah, the chairman for Arab Americans for Peace told ABC News.
The Biden-Harris administration faced criticism from the Arab American community due to its perceived unconditional support for Israel in its war on Gaza. More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and hundreds more were taken captive.
“President Biden was asleep at the wheel, ignoring our our pleas with him. So we decided to tell President Biden that because you have ignored us, we are going to punish you at the polls, and that’s one of the major reasons why we decided to establish Arab Americans for Trump,” Bahbah said.
Many prominent Arab-American advocacy groups and community leaders threw their support behind Trump or Green Party candidate Jill Stein due to the Biden administration’s stance on Gaza.
“For many people, this was very painful. This was not an easy choice, because they were looking at what was going on in Gaza, it was very hard for them to support President Biden,” and later Vice President Harris, James Zoghby, the cofounder of the Arab American Institute, a political and policy organization that did not support Trump, told ABC News.
Now, with Trump proposing the forcible displacement of Palestinians, and attempting to pressure Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza — by threatening to cut billions in aid — some groups have maintained their support of Trump and are waiting to see what actions he takes and are maintaining their opposition to Harris and Biden.
“These were grotesque comments. They’re unacceptable comments, they’re absolutely horrific comments. But you know, at the end of the day, when you put them on a scale, they’re comments. It’s rhetoric, and I don’t feel it is appropriate, nor is it honest to sit here and conflate it with the actions of the Biden-Harris administration, or to try and use that rhetoric to use it as a ‘gotcha’ moment to people who voted against the Biden-Harris administration,” Hudhayfah Ahmad, the head of media for the Abandon Harris campaign, told ABC News.
The Abandon Harris campaign, which started as the Abandon Biden campaign, gave both Democratic Party candidates an ultimatum, asking for them to call for an unconditional ceasefire or lose the group’s support. Biden and Harris did not meet the deadline set by the group to call for a ceasefire, according to Ahmad.
The Trump campaign was able to garner support from the Muslim American community largely in the last four weeks before the election by making public calls for a ceasefire and vowing to make it happen, Ahmad said.
“There was never really any support before that,” Ahmad said.
“A considerable chunk of people who had previously committed to voting third party, said that I’m going to vote the Trump-Vance ticket at the top of the ticket, and I’ll vote Green Party down ballot. I heard this from multiple people in multiple swing states,” Ahmad said.
But some community leaders felt that despite the actions of the Biden Administration in Gaza, Trump would be worse.
“I was very much opposed to the hucksters who were trying to sell Jill Stein and to the folks who supported Donald Trump. It was a really not just a bad call, it was a dangerous call. And I felt that despite the insult, despite the hurt, we had a responsibility to think big. [Biden and Harris] were at fault for making our job more difficult,” Zoghby said.
“The pain that we knew would occur if Donald Trump got back into the White House was too great to too many people,” Zoghby said. “Even though [Biden and Harris] didn’t give us what we needed, we still had to recognize that letting Donald Trump back into the White House was was going to be a disaster.”
Arab Americans for Peace — an advocacy group formerly called Arab Americans for Trump — changed its name this month after hearing some of Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the displacement of Palestinians, but a leader told ABC News they have not yet withdrawn their support for Trump.
“Our objective from the very beginning for supporting Trump was peace. We were telling the Biden administration continuously to stop its aid to the Israelis because the Israelis are committing genocide with the arms that are provided by the United States and Western Europe,” Bahbah said.
“The change of the name does not mean that we are withdrawing our support for President Trump. It just means that we are going back to the root cause of our very existence, which is the promotion of peace in the Middle East,” Bahbah said.
Even community leaders who did not support Trump as a candidate argued that he secured a ceasefire.
“Trump did this ceasefire solely for his own self interest and self image and self benefit. Nothing humanitarian about it at all,” Ahmad said.
“It’s hard to say that anyone feels regret [for supporting Trump] when you take into consideration that we are no longer seeing a daily influx of videos and pictures of children, men, women, elderly, being butchered with U.S. weaponry. That has stopped completely,” Ahmad said.
Despite some holding onto support for Trump, his comments on forcibly displacing Palestinians drew sharp criticism from Arab Americans.
“We are totally opposed to the idea of displacing Palestinians out of Gaza. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians, and it is not for anyone in the world to tell the Palestinians to leave that territory,” Bahbah said.
“Like my father, Palestinians are prepared to die on their homeland. And will not immigrate or be forced out of their homeland,” Bahbah said.
“There’s time to wait and see how things will evolve before I can say ‘I am really angry with the president, and I no longer supporting him.’ That is not the case right now, because it’s just the beginning of that process. But I also believe that the coming four years are going to be critical for the Israel-Arab conflict,” Bahbah said.
He said Arab Americans for Peace decided to support Trump because he promised to end the war in Gaza and ensure lasting peace in the Middle East.
He believes Trump’s pressure on Netanyahu stopped the war in Gaza.
But Bahbah said he believes Trump’s recent comments on Gaza are providing Israel cover to “destroy” the West Bank, drawing attention away from what is happening there.
Other leaders in the Arab community strongly disagreed with Trump’s comments on Gaza, and are skeptical of the motivations behind Trump’s comments on wanting to forcibly displace Palestinians.
“I think the purpose is to provide Netanyahu the cover to end this ceasefire after phase one and secure the hostages and go no further. Because I don’t think Trump is interested at all in seeing this through on the terms that were negotiated — which ultimately requires a full Israeli withdrawal and the reconstruction,” Zoghby said.
Netanyahu has faced criticism for not laying out a plan for what happens in Gaza after the war is over. The ceasefire agreement requires a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, but remains unclear if the ceasefire will reach its final stages.
“I could get as indignant as everybody else about [Trump’s comments] and it being illegal, but there’s so much in that involves Israel’s behavior toward Palestinians — and the U.S.’s enablement of Israel doing it — that is illegal, immoral,” Zoghby said.
Now they are awaiting on Trump to deliver lasting peace, Bahbah said.
“We continue to insist and be a voice of reason, telling the president what we want as an Arab American community, and that is lasting peace in the Middle East based on a two state solution, keeping in mind that what brought us to this point is the Biden-Harris administration by allowing Israel to literally destroy the Gaza Strip,” Bahbah said.
But support for Trump is conditional on what actions he takes, some activists say.
“We are not beholden to anybody or to any party. We will support whomever we think will end the wars and provide a permanent resolution to the Arab Israeli conflict and peace in the Middle East,” Bahbah said.
The group Abandon Harris plans to throw its support behind third-party candidates in the future, Ahmad said.
“Our movement is solely structured behind morals, values, principles — not parties, not individuals, not candidates,” Ahmad said.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Nearly three weeks after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove more than 200 alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador with little-to-no due process, a federal judge on Thursday is set to consider whether the Trump administration defied a court order by deporting the men.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg will consider what consequences the Trump administration should face if he deems that it willfully violated his March 15 orders that barred removals under the Alien Enemies Act and directed two flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members be returned to the United States.
Thursday’s hearing could present the most consequential face-off yet between the executive and judicial branches of government since Trump took office in January, as Trump attempts to unilaterally implement parts of his agenda amid a flood of litigation.
“I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do,” Trump said in a social media post last month after Judge Boasberg issued his order blocking the deportations.
Trump last month invoked the Alien Enemies Act — a wartime authority used to deport noncitizens with little-to-no due process — by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acknowledged that “many” of the men lack criminal records in the United States — but said 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.”
Lawyers representing the class of migrants covered by the president’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation have argued that the Trump administration violated the court’s “unequivocal oral order” to return to the U.S. two flights carrying alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador.
According to flight data reviewed by ABC News, both flights carrying the migrants had not yet landed when Judge Boasberg directed the flights be turned around, and Justice Department lawyers, when questioned by Judge Boasberg, confirmed that the directive was promptly communicated to federal officials overseeing the flights.
“Defendants admit they never attempted to return the individuals on the planes to the United States, despite having both notice and the ability to do so,” the attorneys argued.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have insisted that the Trump administration “complied with the law” while questioning the legitimacy of Judge Boasberg’s order. According to the DOJ, Judge Boasberg’s oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and his subsequent written order lacked the necessary explanation to be enforced.
Lawyers with the ACLU and Democracy Forward Foundation responded that “The government’s arguments are also unsupportable on their own terms — as a matter of basic textual analysis, of common sense, and in view of foundational separation-of-powers principles.”
The Justice Department has also argued that the president acted within his authority when he removed the noncitizens — which the Trump administration has alleged are dangerous gang members — and that the government should not have to explain itself to the court because the matter concerns national security.
“Even without the challenged Proclamation, the President doubtlessly acts within his constitutional prerogative by declining to transport foreign terrorists into the country,” the Justice Department argued.
The Justice Department recently invoked the rarely-used state secrets privilege to avoid disclosing further details about the flights on the grounds that it could harm national security, so it’s unclear how DOJ attorneys will respond to Boasberg’s lines of inquiry.
