"The Talk of the Town"
(HOUSTON) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that a 48-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly illegally providing an abortion in Houston.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(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.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday he has ordered state prosecutors to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the “nowactive criminal investigation” into influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, after they arrived in the state from Romania.
The announcement was first posted to X, saying, “Last week, I directed my office to work with our law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate.”
It continued, “Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers.”
The brothers landed at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 27 after Romania lifted a travel restriction on them, despite its ongoing criminal investigations into the Tates for human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group with the goal of sexually exploiting women in two cases. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape.
The Tate brothers deny all charges against them.
The two had been confined to Romania since late 2022 and were charged in both 2023 and 2024. Romanian officials announced that court restrictions prohibiting the brothers from leaving Romania while awaiting trial had been lifted, but that the charges against them remained in force. The Tates also face another criminal case in the United Kingdom, where an arrest warrant has been issued on separate allegations of human trafficking and rape. The UK government has faced calls to demand the Tates’ extradition from the U.S.
The Tates’ release followed reports of lobbying by President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump denied any knowledge of it when questioned by reporters about their arrival in the United States. But Romania’s foreign minister has confirmed that Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, raised the brothers’ case during a meeting in February, although he denied being pressured. Key Trump officials and allies, including Elon Musk and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. have previously condemned the case against the Tates.
The charges against the Tates remain in force and they will be expected to return to Romania for court appearances, according to a statement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT.) The agency warned that failure to observe the remaining judicial restrictions could result in harsher restrictions being instated.
Despite other Trump allies’ support for the Tates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed surprise and anger at their arrival in Florida, telling reporters on the day that the Tates were “not welcome” given the conduct they are accused of.
Uthmeier, the attorney general, said he had directed state law enforcement to investigate whether any of their alleged crimes relating to human trafficking and violence against women triggered Florida jurisdiction, and pledging to “hold them accountable” if so.
One of the alleged victims at the center of one of the Romanian cases against Tate is a Florida woman. The American citizen has accused the Tates of luring her to Romania under the pretence of romantic relationship and then pressuring her into working as a pornographic webcam model, according to court documents.
The Tates have denied the woman’s accusations.
It is unclear if the new Florida investigation involves the women’s allegations. Uthmeier declined to give details on Tuesday but pledged to use “every tool” to hold the Tates accountable.
“These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” he told a local reporter. “People can spin it however they want, but in Florida this type of behaviour is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it.”
“If these guys did criminal activity here in Florida we will go after them with full force of law and hold them accountable,” he said.
A lawyer representing the Tates, Joseph D. McBride, condemned the investigation, accusing Uthmeier of making “inflammatory, biased” comments and claiming the case was politically motivated.
“Today, Attorney General James Uthmeier threw ethics law out of the window when he publicly took a side in an ongoing Florida lawsuit where Andrew and Tristan Tate are suing a Florida woman,” McBride, wrote on X, challenging the attorney general to present evidence.
McBride blamed the new investigation on DeSantis, calling him “an angry, vertically challenged imp who hates Tate and Trump for being actual men. Attorney General Uthmeier is his pathetic lap dog.”
The Tates brought a defamation lawsuit against the Florida woman in the state in 2023, accusing her and her family of conspiring to damage their reputations by participating in the Romanian case. Last month, the woman brought her own countersuit against the Tates, accusing them of using the defamation lawsuit to try to silence victims. Both cases are currently pending.
A lawyer for the Florida woman in the Romania case praised the attorney general’s move to criminally investigate the Tates.
“Florida AG Uthmeier is right to criminally investigate the Tate brothers who have publicly boasted about exploiting women yet have continuously sought to undermine the Romanian investigation into these crimes,” Dani Pinter, senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said in a statement. “Over 40 victims have been identified across Romania, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They deserve justice. Florida’s investigation is a positive step towards justice realized.”
One of the women who is an alleged victim at the center of one of the Romanian cases is an American woman who lives in Florida.
It’s unclear from Uthmeier’s statement what the investigation is examining right now or how it might proceed.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and T. Michelle Murphy contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — Internet-connected cameras made in China are giving the Chinese government the ability to “conduct espionage or disrupt US critical infrastructure,” according to a Department of Homeland Security bulletin obtained by ABC News.
The cameras typically lack data encryption and security settings and, by default, communicate with their manufacturer. It’s believed there are tens of thousands of Chinese-made cameras on the networks of critical U.S. infrastructure entities, including within the chemical and energy sectors, the bulletin said.
Chinese cyber-operatives have previously exploited internet-connected cameras and the fear is China could gain access and manipulate systems without tighter restrictions on these cameras, the DHS warns.
“A cyber actor could leverage cameras placed on IT networks for initial access and pivot to other devices to exfiltrate sensitive process data that an actor could use for attack planning or disrupting business systems,” the bulletin said. “A cyber actor could use cameras placed on safety systems to suppress alarms, trigger false alarms, or pivot to disable fail-safe mechanisms.”
So far, China has successfully kept U.S. regulators from blocking the use of internet-connected cameras made in China through the use of a practice known as “white labeling,” where the cameras are imported after they’re packaged and sold by another company, according to the bulletin.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.