Mexico developing app for migrants to send alert if about to be detained in the US
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(NEW YORK) — Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to inform family members and local consulates if they think they are about to be detained in the United States, the country’s secretary of foreign affairs announced on Friday.
The app is expected to become available in January as President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to launch mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission on Day 1 of his second term, takes office.
The app — dubbed Alert Button — will allow nationals who think they are about to be detained to notify the “consulate closest to their location about situations of imminent detention, notify family members who have previously been selected, as well as report to the Foreign Affairs Secretary,” Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
The app was developed with the Mexican Digital Transformation Agency for “emergency cases,” Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, said.
De la Fuente outlined other protective measures ahead of Mexican nationals’ possible detention under the incoming Trump administration.
“The foreign affairs secretary was emphatic in pointing out that to deport someone from the United States you need a court order, a final sentence of deportation or removal, and that is where the consular team will be very aware that due process is complied with,” the release said.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to get started on mass deportations as soon as he enters office.
He’s tapped several immigration hard-liners to serve in key Cabinet positions, including former Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan as “border czar.”
Homan previously discussed his vision for mass deportations, saying they would first concentrate on expelling criminals and national security threats. He didn’t rule out deporting families together.
An estimated 11.7 million unauthorized migrants are living in the U.S. without legal immigration status, including about 4.6 million from Mexico, as of July 2023, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
Russian President Valdimir Putin; Photo credit: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it defeated a Ukrainian ATACMS attack in the western Bryansk region, shortly before the Kremlin updated its nuclear weapons doctrine to allow for nuclear strikes in response to foreign ballistic missile attacks.
Ukrainian forces fired six “ballistic missiles,” the ministry wrote on its official Telegram page, five of which were downed and the sixth damaged. “According to confirmed data, American-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles were used,” it wrote.
“ATACMS fragments fell on the technical territory of a military facility in the Bryansk region, a fire broke out, it was extinguished,” the ministry added.
The ministry alleged the attack shortly after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine — signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday — meant “the use of Western non-nuclear rockets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia can prompt a nuclear response.”
Peskov’s remarks came after three U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News that President Joe Biden had approved Ukraine’s use of the long-range American-made MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System — colloquially known as the ATACMS — to hit targets in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Bryansk borders Kursk to its west. The target and location of Tuesday’s alleged Ukrainian strike is unclear. Kyiv is yet to comment on the Russian Defense Ministry’s report.
The Biden administration hasn’t publicly confirmed the policy change. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists at a Monday briefing he would not confirm or deny approval for ATACMS use inside Russia, but said the U.S. response to Russian and North Korean military cooperation in the war “would be firm.”
There are now some 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region intended for deployment to the battlefield, U.S. officials have said.
The changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine were unveiled several weeks ago but only signed by Putin on Tuesday, as officials in Moscow expressed anger at the U.S. decision to allow ATACMS use on Russian territory.
The doctrine now says Russia can launch a nuclear attack against a country assisting a non-nuclear country in aggression against Russia that critically threatens the country’s state integrity.=
Moscow has repeatedly threatened nuclear weapon use against Ukraine and its Western partners throughout its full-scale invasion of the country.
Western leaders including President Joe Biden have said that avoiding a direct clash between Russia and NATO is a top priority given the danger of nuclear war.
(WASHINGTON) — In a major development, the Pentagon on Monday announced the transfer 11 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Oman, a move that now leaves only 15 detainees still at the detention facility.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” said a DOD statement.
In recent weeks, the Pentagon had transferred out four other detainees from Guantanamo including a detainee who was brought to the detention facility at the base in Cuba the day that it opened, but was never charged.
The transfer of the 11 Yemeni detainees is the largest transfer to take place under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Of the remaining 15 detainees still at Guantanamo Bay, three are eligible for transfer; three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board; seven are involved in the military commissions process; and two detainees have been convicted and sentenced by military commissions.
Among the detainees who will remain at Guantanamo is Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attack, who on Friday will appear at a hearing at the base where he is expected to plead guilty in return for the death penalty being withdrawn. The following week, two other 9/11 plotters are expected to plead guilty under the same plea agreement.
Just last week, a military appeals court reaffirmed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could not withdraw the plea agreements worked out with Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
According to the Pentagon statement, Austn notified Congress on Sept. 15, 2023, of “his intent to repatriate these 11 Yemeni detainees to the Government of Oman and, in consultation with our partners in Oman, we completed the requirements for transfer.”
The 11 detainees identified by their name and corresponding detainee identification number are : Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman (ISN 27), Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi (ISN 28), Khalid Ahmed Qassim (ISN 242), Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi (ISN 569), Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah (ISN 841), Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani (ISN 893), Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah (ISN 1017), Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi (ISN 1453), Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash (ISN 1456), Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj (ISN 1457), and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah (ISN 1463).
Attorneys for Shaqawi Al Hajj, 51, said in a statement that their client was flown to Oman this week after spending nearly 21 years in the prison at Guantánamo and more than two years in CIA sites.
“Our thoughts are with Mr. Al Hajj as he transitions to the free world after almost 23 years in captivity. His release is hopeful for him and for us. We are grateful to Oman and to the individuals in the administration who made this transfer happen, and to the many people over the years whose work and advocacy paved the way for this moment,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who represents Al Hajj.
(LONDON) — Azerbaijani authorities investigating last week’s Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan are probing the “disturbing” possibility that Russian air traffic controllers may have directed the damaged plane out over the Caspian Sea, a source with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have all opened investigations into the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 crash.
The source — who did not wish to be identified given the sensitivity of the ongoing Azerbaijani investigation — said Azerbaijani authorities have “very little doubt” that flight J2-8243 was damaged by a Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft system over Chechnya on Dec. 25.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev suggested on Sunday that the plane was shot down by Russia unintentionally, that it “was damaged from the outside on Russian territory” and was “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.” He cited fire from the ground for serious damage to the tail section of the aircraft and apparent shrapnel holes in its fuselage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the plane crashing, but stopped short of saying Russia was behind a strike.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday said, “The investigation into the air accident is ongoing. And we do not think we have a right to give any assessments and will not do so until conclusions are drawn based on the results of the investigation. We have our own aviation authorities that can do it, and this information may come only from them.”
The source with knowledge of the investigation said the subsequent conduct of air control officials after what they suspect to be a Russian strike on the plane was a focus of the ongoing investigation into the incident, in which 38 of the 67 people on board were killed.
The aircraft was heading northwest from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia — the capital city of Russia’s Chechen Republic — when the incident occurred. At the same time, Ukrainian drones were attacking targets in Chechnya, prompting a response from Russian anti-aircraft units.
Early explanations for the crash included a collision with birds and heavy fog in the area. Some Russian media organizations also suggested Ukrainian drones collided with the plane during their attack on targets in Chechnya.
Russian authorities did not immediately close Chechen airspace, the source said, adding that this decision may have been negligent but does not appear to prove any intent by Russia to shoot down the incoming Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft.
The doomed plane flew east across the Caspian Sea to the Kazakh city of Aktau some 280 miles away — rather than landing in Chechnya or another closer airport, which was “puzzling” for investigators, according to the source.
The area was blanketed in heavy fog at the time of the incident, survivors said, forcing the aircraft to make two landing attempts at Grozny airport before it was rocked by apparent explosions on its third approach.
Russia’s Rosaviatsia air transport agency said Friday that the captain was offered other airports at which to land on account of the fog and drone alerts, but chose Aktau. It was not immediately clear which airports had been offered or why the plane didn’t land at one of them.
The investigators’ “most obvious” and “most unfortunate” theory is that Russian air traffic control officials may have directed the plane over the Caspian Sea, the source said.
That explanation, if it turns out to be true, is “disturbing” but possible, the source added.
The aircraft ultimately crashed around 2 miles from Aktau International Airport on the Caspian Sea’s eastern coast.
Putin on Saturday spoke with Aliyev and “apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” a Kremlin readout said.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks,” it added.
On Sunday, Aliyev said Moscow should admit responsibility for the incident and offer compensation.
“The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from outside on Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and practically lost control,” Aliyev told state television.
Aliyev said he did not believe the damage was intentional, though expressed disappointment over alternate theories for the crash offered by Russian authorities in the immediate aftermath.
“This openly showed that the Russian side wants to hush up the issue and this, of course, does no one credit,” he said.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except crazy versions,” Aliyev said.
Russia and Azerbaijan — which until 1991 was a constituent state of the Soviet Union — are both members of the Moscow-centric Commonwealth of Independent States bloc. The neighboring nations retain close political, economic and security ties.
Bilateral relations have become more important to the Kremlin since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine prompted a collective Western effort to isolate Moscow on the international stage.
Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has pursued non-alignment and a balance in its relations with Russia and the West. The country has notably become an important source of natural gas for Europe, while also serving as a key conduit for Russian oil exports.
ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic, Ines de la Cuetara and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
