Catholic bishops condemn Trump administration’s immigration enforcement – US politics live | US politics
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Only 29 percent of Americans support US military killing drug suspects, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 29 percent of Americans support using the U.S. military to kill suspected drug dealers without the intervention of a judge or court; this is a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s incursions into the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
The six-day poll, which ended Wednesday as Washington continued military build-up around Latin America, with a particular focus on Venezuela, showed 51 percent of respondents opposed killing drug suspects, while the rest were unsure where they stood.
In the survey, 27 percent of Republicans opposed the practice, an indication of the division within Trump’s party, while 58 percent supported it, and the rest were undecided. While three-quarters of Democrats opposed the practice, one in 10 supported it.
The Trump administration has ordered at least 20 military strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and off Latin America’s Pacific coast in recent months, killing at least 79 people.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have condemned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings of civilians, and some U.S. allies have expressed growing concern that Washington may be violating international law.
US Catholic bishops condemn Trump administration sanctions on immigrants
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news over the next few hours.
We start with this news The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a rare condemnation of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants and advocated for “meaningful immigration reform.”
“We are troubled by threats to the sanctity of places of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools,” the bishops said in a special message, the first of its kind in 12 years.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration efforts, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Reuters, this message echoes similar criticisms made by Pope Leo, who called for a “deep consideration” of the treatment of immigrants in the United States during the Trump era.
The Trump administration has advanced an aggressive immigration agenda since taking office earlier this year. Trump rescinded the policy limiting the detention of immigrants near sensitive locations, including churches, hospitals and schools, and deployed federal agents across the U.S. to increase such arrests.
In their message, the bishops expressed concern about what they described as “profiling issues and a climate of fear and anxiety regarding immigration enforcement.” They expressed regret at the controversy and slander against immigrants and opposed the “indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”
The bishops also expressed concern about conditions in detention centers and what they called the arbitrary removal of some immigrants’ legal status.
“We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly system of migration in the public interest,” the bishops said.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump faces the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote on the release of the Jeffery Epstein files after unsuccessful attempts to pressure two female members of Congress to withdraw their support. News that Republican representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Nancy Mace of South Carolina have refused to remove their names from the discharge petition to force the vote, leaving Trump vulnerable to an issue that could turn parts of Maga’s base against him.
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ministry of justice on thursday participated in a lawsuit The resolution, introduced by California Republicans to block the state’s new congressional map, escalates a legal battle over a redistricting effort designed to give Democrats a better chance to take back the House of Representatives next year. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, challenges the congressional map that the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, is defending in response to a Republican gerrymander sought by Donald Trump.
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The BBC has apologized to Donald Trump for the editing of the Panorama documentary, which led to the resignation of director general Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness. But the company rejected Trump’s claims for damages after Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue for $1bn (£760m) if the BBC did not retract, apologize and reach a deal with Trump.
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Former FBI director James Comey and New York attorney general Letitia James asked a federal judge on Thursday to drop the charges against them, arguing that Donald Trump’s hand-picked U.S. attorney who obtained the indictments against them was unlawfully appointed. The hearing before Judge Cameron Currie at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, marked the first time a judge considered one of several efforts by James and Comey to dismiss the indictments before the trial.
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Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell is the latest target in Trump’s revenge campaign against his critics, the congressman confirmed Thursday. NBC News reports Swalwell faces a federal criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, just as three other Democratic officials have faced in recent months.
