News Summaries in July 2025

“Brazil Duties Threaten to Raise Coffee Prices,” Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2025

The 50 percent tariff President Trump has placed on products from Brazil is likely to increase prices for the type of coffee U.S. consumers prefer. Brazilian arabica beans are the source for roughly 35 percent to 40 percent of the coffee consumed in the U.S., says Journal reporter Kirk Maltais. “In fact, at over 40 million bags, Brazil produces more arabica coffee than the next five leading producers in the world combined,” Maltais said. “This includes countries like Colombia and Honduras, where U.S. coffee makers already buy a large portion of their output.” Rabobank analyst James Watson said “we don’t have an easy ability to replace Brazilian coffee. For the most part, most of what you drink is all arabica.” The next leading coffee producer in the world is Vietnam, but it produces robusta, a cheaper type of coffee that is common in instant coffee. Citi Research has noted that traders have rushed to bring more coffee into the U.S. ahead of a tariff, directing it away from other countries. It’s likely that importers will charge buyers more to ship coffee, and that domestic roasters in turn will pass that increase on to consumers. The average retail price for a cup of coffee in U.S. cities has risen 9 percent in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“‘Classic Tinpot Dictator:’ Trump Exports His Assault on Democracy to Brazil,” Analysis by Tom Phillips of The Guardian, July 31, 2025

Accused of dragging the United States toward authoritarianism, President Donald Trump also seems intent on undermining the second largest democracy in the Americas. “Since early July, Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on Brazil’s institutions, slapping 50% tariffs on imports from the South American country and sanctions on a supreme court judge – partly in retribution for what he called the political persecution of his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding a failed coup.” (See story below, "Trump Accused of Attack on Brazilan Democracy...".) The Economist declared last week that “rarely since the end of the cold war has the United States interfered so deeply with a Latin American country.” Steven Levitsky, a Harvard University political scientist who co-wrote How Democracies Die, said “This is a very authoritarian political force that’s doing enormous damage to my country’s democratic institutions and rights – and I wish it would stop at that. It’s painful to see the [US] government do damage to other countries’ democratic institutions as well.” [Roberts writes that] “The US has an ignominious track record of interfering in Latin American affairs, through CIA-backed coups and military interventions. But Levitsky said he had never seen trade policy weaponized in such a way: ‘Brazilians have worked now for generations to build the strongest, most democratic system they’ve ever had…and this sort of reckless, casual assault on democratic institutions pains me.” Bolsonaro’s supporters have been thrilled by Trump’s efforts to help him dodge justice over his alleged 2022 coup by pressuring Brazil’s government and supreme court. “They see Trump as Bolsonaro’s best chance of avoiding jail when the supreme court announces its verdict in the coming weeks.” But Brazilians across the political spectrum are angry about Trump’s meddling. They “are appalled at what they call an intolerable foreign ploy to subvert their democracy, 40 years after it was restored after two decades of dictatorship.” Levitsky likens Trump to the Dominican Republic’s Rafael Trujillo or Nicaragua’s Anastasio Somoza – a “classic 20^th century tinhorn dictator.” [Levitsky says ] “Trump approaches governance in exactly the same way. The treasury was for them. Trade policy was for them. Foreign policy was for them. The army was their personal security. That’s how Trump looks at governance. He uses policy instruments for his own personal and political ends.” Experts doubt Trump will succeed in resurrecting Bolsonaro. He’s been banned from seeking election until 2030 and is expected to get a hefty sentence after the coup trial ends. Bolsonaro has denied the coup charges but admits considering “alternative ways” to hold onto power after he lost the 2022 presidential election to President Lula. There are early signs Lula has been re-energized by his clash with Trump. Many Brazilians blame the Bolsonaro family for convincing Trump to target Brazil’s economy and institutions. A recent editorial in the conservative Estado de São Paulo newspaper said “Bolsonaro’s name has already been inscribed in the pantheon of the greatest traitors this nation has ever seen.” Says Marcelo Rubens Paiva, a writer whose father was murdered by Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship, “I think Bolsonaro has buried his political career.”

“Ex-President of Colombia Is Found Guilty of Bribery,” New York Times, July 31, 2025

In a decision expected to further divide Colombia, the country’s conservative former president, Álvaro Uribe, has been found guilty of bribery and procedural fraud. “It was the first major criminal conviction of a former Colombian leader” said Genevieve Glatsky and Julie Turkewitz of the Times. They described Uribe as one who “shaped the country’s politics more than anyone over the past 25 years.” They said that his aggressive military campaign against rebel leftist groups during his presidency from 2002 to 2010 significantly weakened the largest such group, “bringing a measure of security the nation had not seen in years.” The case in which he was convicted has lasted 13 years. Uribe was found guilty of trying to bribe a former paramilitary source to retract testimony that Uribe had founded and financed a paramilitary group in the 1990s when the country was embroiled in a long and bloody internal conflict. Some legal experts said the conviction is evidence that Colombia’s legal system is working to hold powerful people accountable. But backers of Uribe including some Republicans in the United States say otherwise. “Former Colombia President Uribe’s only crime has been to tirelessly fight and defend his homeland,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent.” Uribe has said he will appeal a decision that goes against him. The appeal is “a process that could take years and is likely to end at the Supreme Court,” the Times said.

“Trump Accused of ‘Attack on Brazilian Democracy’ After Sanctioning Bolsonaro Trial Judge,” The Guardian, July 30 , 2025

The United States Treasury has imposed sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, the Brazilian supreme court judge presiding over the trial of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on charges of attempting a coup to retain power after he lost the 2022 election to the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Allies of Lula are accusing Donald Trump of launching “a direct attack on Brazilian democracy” in the wake of the sanctions on Moraes, who is widely credited with helping save Brazilian democracy from a 2022 rightwing coup, said Guardian reporter Tom Phillips. “The highly controversial US move was announced on Wednesday [July 30] by the secretary of the treasury, Scott Bessent, shortly before Trump followed through on a threat to hit Brazilian imports with 50% tariffs by signing an executive order ‘to deal with the recent policies, practices and actions of the government of Brazil,” said Phillips. Trump partly ties the tariffs to a supposed witch hunt against Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly seeking to seize power after losing to Lula. Bolsonaro is widely expected to be convicted in the trial and to be sentenced to up to 43 years in jail, said Phillips. Bessent said Moraes is “responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights and politicized prosecutions – including against former president Jair Bolsonaro.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted “Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen – judicial robes cannot protect you.” A White House statement on the 50% tariffs said they were a result of “the government of Brazil’s politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution” of Bolsonaro and “thousands of his supporters.” On Jan. 8, 2023, Bolsonaro supporters stormed and ransacked the supreme court, congress and presidential palace in Brasília. José Guimarâes, a congressperson from Lula’s leftwing Worker’s party, said the sanctions are “not just an affront to a supreme court minister..[but also] a direct attack on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty.” He said “we will not accept foreign interference in …our justice system,” and said the sanctions are “the fruit of a Bolsonaro family conspiracy against Brazil.” Gleisi Hoffmann, a top minister, called the Trump move “a violent and arrogant act” and said the government utterly repudiates the “absurd” measure. João Amoêdo, among the founders of the rightwing Partido Novo, said the sanctions are “an unacceptable attempt at foreign interference in the Brazilian justice system.” Eduardo Leite, a conservative aspirant for the presidency, said he could not accept “another country trying to interfere in our institutions.” There are numerous exceptions to the 50% tariffs announced by Trump, including oil, orange juice, timber and aircraft. [The measures against Moraes are known as Magnitsky sanctions, which were originally passed by Congress to target Russian officials involved in the death of a Russian lawyer who died in a Moscow prison after exposing a large-scale scheme of tax fraud involving government officials. They were later expanded to target human rights abusers anywhere in the world. They involve freezing assets and limiting travel.]

“Fear of ICE Jolts a Beach Town Reliant on Foreign Labor,” New York Times, July 30, 2025

Wells is the only town in Maine whose police department has agreed to collaborate with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The agreement deputizing local police officers to help enforce immigration laws has sparked weekly protests in the popular tourist town on Route One along the southern coast of Maine, a community that relies on foreign workers to staff hotels, restaurants and other businesses. Police are now taking a cautious approach and haven’t participated in ICE enforcement actions, says Times reporter David Goodman – “but that hasn’t quieted the furor or the concerns about how Wells, and Maine broadly, will be seen by tourists and foreign workers,” he writes. Nationwide, one-third of workers in tourism and hospitality are immigrants. A recent arrest by ICE of 40 immigrants on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts caused some local businesses there to close temporarily. Maine’s work force last year included an estimated 4,375 workers on temporary H2B nonagricultural visas and 3,382 J-1 student visas. Seasonal employees, including many from Jamaica, return year after year to work as hotel housekeepers, cooks, and dishwashers among other jobs. About 5,800 undocumented other workers work in home care and farming. “The entire Maine coast, from Kittery all the way up to Bar Harbor, will not survive without international help,” Paul Patel, an Indian-born entrepreneur who owns 11 hotels on the Maine Coast, told the Times. The Wells agreement with ICE signed in March occurred at a time when tourism was suffering because of a Canadian travel boycott of the state caused by President Trump’s threatened tariffs and comments about making Canada “the 51^st state.” In June, about 30 percent fewer people crossed the border from Canada into Maine. Arrests by ICE in Maine have increased 49 percent since Trump took office in January. Goodman writes that according to supporters of immigrants’ rights, the arrests “are sweeping up people who are working in Maine legally, keeping everyone on edge.” Lisa Parisio of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Portland said her group has tracked 17 minor traffic stops since March where more than 40 people have been handed over by local law enforcement to immigration officers, including people with valid work permits and no criminal history. Business owners worry that the economy of Maine, already the slowest growing economy in the Northeast, will be further jeopardized if foreign workers and visitors stay away. “We need to ensure that those who are authorized to work feel welcomed,” said Patrick Woodcock, the head of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. In Wells, “unease has become part of the fabric of the normally tranquil town,” Goodman says. “Foreign-born residents and workers around Wells have reacted to the ICE threat by trying to stay out of sight.” A woman from southern Africa said some local immigrants only attend church online and were keeping their children from school. Another immigrant advocate noted that some 200 families from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, most of them asylum seekers, have settled in the region in the last five years and work in local businesses. Because police officers have turned into immigration agents they are afraid to call law enforcement when they need to, she said. “People fear for deportation, fear for arrest, people are afraid of other immigrants. They are afraid there will not be anyone to defend them, and are afraid to have their kids playing in the community because their kids might not return. The normalcy of life has evaporated,” she said.

“ICE Agents Invade a Manhattan Little League Field,” New Yorker Daily, July 27, 2025

Since President Trump took office Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have patrolled near schools and raided a homeless helter, says New Yorker writer Zach Helfand. They’ve arrested a four-year-old, two New York City public school students, and an Army veteran who happened to be Latino. Recently, they had a confrontation with a coach at a youth baseball practice who said afterward “I’m willing to die to make sure these kids get home.” The coach, Youman Wilder, is well known in New York baseball circles. He says one of his teammates at Thomas Jefferson High had a batting average of .790 and played major league baseball for 18 years. Wilder batted .800, still the city record. He now runs a youth baseball program called the Harlem Hitting Academy. It doesn’t take the best players but kids who got cut. It charges no fee. He says it has produced four hundred college-scholarship baseball players. The program sometimes practices in Riverside Park. Last month, six ICE agents approached after he had finished a batting practice with a group of about a dozen eleven-to-fourteen-year-olds. “I thought they were speaking about baseball,” he told Helfand. “And then I heard: ‘Where are you from? Where are your parents from?” Four of the agents had face masks and all of them had guns and tasers. Asked why they were questioned, Wilder said “they are Black and Latino. They come from the projects.” All were American citizens. Wilder told the kids to get behind him, Helfand recounted. “He told the officers they were invoking their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. ‘My words were, ‘You don’t have more rights than they do.’” One agent said to Wilder, “Oh, another YouTube lawyer.” The agents threatened to arrest him for obstruction. But they left a few minutes later. The kids went home. At the next practice, only one appeared. Wilder said he and his kids refuse to be victims. “Our kids will do well in life.” He met with his congressman. An immigration lawyer volunteered to sit in on his practices. Wilder had to leave for a few days to drive a minivan to take some of his kids on a college tour. “But he received word that, last Wednesday when his colleague Pedro came to pitch batting practice, seven players were there to take swings,” Helfand said.

“Spain is Wary of More Security Spending Despite Pressure,” New York Times, July 25, 2025

Perhaps in no European country more than Spain has the government been as stressed about allotting spending between defense and domestic needs. “Torn between a looming Russian threat to Europe and housing, health care and education needs, Spain has tried to split the difference,” report Lara Jakes and José Bautista of the Post. Unlike the rest of the 32 member countries of NATO, Spain refused last month to agree to spend up to five percent of its gross domestic product on defense over the next decade. Meeting that demand by President Trump would have required more than doubling its defense spending to an estimated $73.8 billion at the expense of funding for social programs. Even its plan to increase defense spending by more than $12 billion is controversial. “They should put that money into social spending, in housing, in everything that people in Spain need,” said 86-year-old María del Carmen Abascal, whose rising rent could force her out of the Madrid apartment in which she has lived for 69 years. Abascal said that as it is her monthly pension cannot cover her rent, which quadrupled after an international investment bank bought her building years ago. Spain has shied away from building up its military after the trauma of the decades-long military dictatorship of Francisco Franco that ended when he died in 1975. Members of the leftist ruling coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez want more money for public services not less. Sira Rego, Spain’s minister for youth and children, said raising defense spending to 5 percent is unthinkable if Spain wants to save its welfare state. “That means that hospitals will be closed, sdhools will be closed, key support programs will disappear,” she said. “It means that the future of a generation, or several generations, will be at risk, because we produce more weapons.” Sanchez, already struggling with a corruption scandal involving his aides, can ill afford to lose much support within his fragile ruling coalition. Trump is widely disliked in Spain, but NATO unity affects Spain’s security. Spain has clashed with Morocco over territorial rights to the small coastal cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. NATO could be compelled to protect Spain’s claims to those cities. Trump has threatened to punish Spain through American trade deals for its refusal to meet his five percent spending target.

“Venezuelan Teenagers Denied US Visas for Senior Baseball World Series,” The Guardian (Associated Press), July 25, 2025

The United States government denied visas for a Venezuelan Little League team to participate in the world championship round in South Carolina after it won the Latin American championship in Mexico. The visas denied the Cacique Mara team from Maracaibo to play in the Senior Baseball World Series for 13-to-16-year-olds stems from an expanded travel ban imposed by the Trump administration on Venezuela and 12 other countries. Little League International said the denial “is extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.” The team traveled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for the visas at the US Embassy in Bogotá. The team said in a statement “it is a mockery on the part of the Little League to keep us here in Bogotá with the hope that our children can fulfill their dreams of participating in a world championship. What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?” Earlier in July the U.S denied visas to a Cuban women’s volleyball team to participate in a tournament in Puerto Rico.

“’Marines Train for War:’ Veterans Blast Deployment of Military to Assist ICE in Florida,” News 6, Orlando, July 24, 2025

Local veterans in Orlando are speaking out against the deployment of 200 Marines to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in Florida. More than 200 veterans have signed a letter opposing such use of the military. “The U.S. military is for fighting America’s enemies and if we’re using them here in the United States, the implication is that Americans are enemies,” said Alexander McCoy, a Marine Corps veteran who served as an embassy guard in the Middle East, Latin America and Europe. McCoy, who drafted the letter, wrote that “we swore an oath to the Constitution, and the law makes clear what the U.S. military is for and not for. Using Marines to participate in ICE operations on U.S. soil dishonors that oath.” Doug Jackson, another veteran who signed the letter, told News 6 reporter Alex Cook that opposition to the deployment is not confined to “hysterical, far-left people on the news” but is a genuine concern among service members.

“Consul Warns Mexicans Must Take ‘Extreme Precautions’ in Florida as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Leads to Diplomatic Tensions,” Talking Points Memo, July 24, 2025

The Mexican consul in Orlando, Florida, has issued a stark warning to Mexicans thinking of traveling to the state. Unless they take precautions, they should not come, said the consul, Juan Sabines. “You should take extreme precautions....” This includes tending to basic things like making sure they are renting cars from legitimate places, driving with a license and carrying documentation at all times. “They will detain you here for anything,” Sabines said in an interview with TPM’s Hunter Walker. His concerns are based on the case of two brothers brought to the detention camp in the Everglades that Florida officials created and named “Alligator Alcatraz.” Democrats and detainees have raised concerns about harsh conditions at the facility. Mexican officials said the brothers had valid documentation. Sabines said “it’s a state that has more risks than other states, including for people with visas.” One of the brothers brought to the facility earlier in July, Carlos Martin González, had a valid tourist visa, according to Sabines. His brother Oscar is married to a U.S. citizen. Carlos was stopped by the police for driving a car with tinted windows that was unregistered. His father paid a fine related to the incident, Sabines said. “The two of them don’t want to stay in the U.S. These men already want to go to Mexico, but they won’t let them. And why? I don’t know. We don’t understand the reason they are still in prison…..It’s not the right way to do things.” On July 22, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she believed 14 Mexican citizens are being held at detention centers in Florida. She said her government would file complaints if its investigation finds that human rights violations have occurred at the Everglades detention camp. “What we are insisting is that, when people are detained, they are repatriated immediately.” In democracies where there is liberty people have the right to a trial, to a judge, to a lawyer, Sabines said. The brothers have a lawyer but the lawyer lacks access to the file. They don’t have access to the case, to a case number, to an alien number. Lawyers have said they are unable to provide effective representation if they do not have an alien number, typically issued to people in the custody of ICE. “There’s no immigration judge there,” Sabines continued. “We don’t have anyone to stand in front of. They don’t have a right to a fair trial at the moment…,” he said. Sabines added that the situation is particularly concerning because there are a large number of legal Mexican workers in Florida and because Mexico has an extensive commercial relationship with the state. “We buy many things from Florida; milk, cream, car parts, medicines. We are a good customer for Florida and they are not treating us like business partners or like family.”

“Convicted of Murder in Venezuela. Freed by the Trump Administration.” Washington Post, July 24, 2025

The American triple murderer brought into the United States in a prisoner swap between the United States and Venezuela has not been detained, according to a source cited by the Washington Post (see below, “Freed by Trump from Venezuela…). Adam Taylor, Samantha Schmidt and Dalila Olmo of the Post reported that “it’s been nearly a week since Dahud Hanid Ortiz, sentenced by a Venezuelan court to 30 years in prison for a gruesome triple murder, was last seen publicly – grinning triumphantly as he arrived in Texas, having been freed through an expansive deal brokered at the behest of President Donald Trump.” The anonymous source quoted by the Post said that Hanid Ortiz, who has dual Venezuelan – United States citizenship, remains in the United States. The Trump administration has refused to disclose the whereabouts of Hanid Ortiz, or why he was included among the Americans whose release it negotiated. Hanid Ortiz committed the murders in Spain and German authorities helped Spanish officials with the investigation. The governments of both countries have expressed anger with the Trump administration’s handling of the matter because of the threat his release may pose to individuals in their countries affected by the crime. The Spanish lawyer Hanid Ortiz unsuccessfully targeted in the murders (see further details in story below) and the families of his three victims are terrified at the prospect that he is walking free. “The United States has been completely silent, not giving information to anyone,” said the lawyer, Victor Joel Salas Coveńas, who Hanid Ortiz targeted in the 2016 murders in Madrid because of a relationship with his wife. “At this moment, no one knows Dahud’s whereabout. So the fear is real, isn’t it? Of course.” The apparent failure to properly vet Hanid Ortiz before his release is causing a rift within the State Department. A U.S. official said he was never on the list of Americans sought by the Trump administration. State Department and White House officials have refused to address the anger over his release citing “privacy concerns.” Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, claimed July 23^rd that his government warned U.S. officials at the airport that they were “taking away a convicted murder. The United States defended their murderer and asked for him to be included,” Cabello alleged. The Trump administration has said the prisoner swap was an opportunity to get all detained Americans out of Venezuela and away from brutal prison conditions in which they were tortured.

“Freed by Trump from Venezuela: American Convicted in 3 Killings,” New York Times, July 24, 2025

Among the 10 Americans freed by Venezuela and returned to the United States last week as part of a prisoner swap hailed by the Trump administration is a 54-year-old man sentenced in 2023 to 30 years in prison for a triple homicide he committed in Madrid in 2016. The lawyer in Madrid he unsuccessfully targeted in those killings, Victor Salas, is now expressing fear for his own life [A separate Washington Post story identified the lawyer as Salas Covenas.]. Daniel Hanid Ortiz, who holds dual American-Venezuelan nationality, planned to murder Salas, who had a relationship with his wife, reported Julie Turkewitz, José Bautista and Frances Robles of the Times. “But on the June day in 2016 when he arrived at the lawyer’s office and did not find his target, he killed two women there, as well as a man who he mistakenly believed was the lawyer,” they wrote. “One of the women, Elisa Consuegra, was killed with a large knife or machete. The second woman, Maritza Osorio, and the man, were likely killed with an iron bar.” Hanid Ortiz lit the office on fire to try to cover up the crime, then fled to Germany and then to Venezuela. The Spanish government tried to extradite Hanid Ortiz from Venezuela, but the Venezuelan constitution bars the extradition of Venezuelan citizens. As a result, he was tried inside Venezuela. Since his July 18 arrival in the United States “it is not clear if he is free or in U.S. custody,” the Times said. Salas is now fearful that Hanid Ortiz will come after him. “I am completely defenseless right now,” he said in an interview with the Times. “I believe Dahud has taken advantage of Venezuelan corruption and American negligence.” The father of Consuegra said of Hanid Ortiz that “he’s an assassin.” The nine other Americans sent back in the swap that involved returning 252 deported Venezuelans to their homeland after being held in a brutal El Salvador prison included those who had traveled to South America as tourists and had been grabbed by Venezuelan authorities. The U.S. State Department didn’t respond July 23 to questions about why the Trump administration included Hanid Ortiz among those freed from Venezuelan control, whether the U.S. government knew about his crimes, and whether he was allowed to go free once on U.S. soil. Venezuelan court records documenting his crimes and convictions were publicly available on the website of Venezuela’s highest court. A State Department spokeswoman said “the United States had the opportunity to secure the release of all Americans detained in Venezuela, many of whom reported being subjected to torture and other harsh conditions.” Salas, the lawyer, said he first learned about the release of Hanid Ortiz from German police, who had heard about his release and were concerned about the safety of his ex-wife, a German citizen.

“Appeals Court Blocks Attempt to Restrict Birthright Citizenship,” New York Times, July 23, 2025

A federal appeals court affirmed a district court ruling that President Trump’s executive order blocking birthright citizenship violated the Constitution. The ruling keeps in place the district court’s nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s executive order. The issue is now one step closer to full Supreme Court review, said Times reporter Mattathias Schwartz. Trump’s order “contradicts the plain language of the 14^thAmendment’s grant of citizenship to ‘all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” said the opinion by two of the three judges who considered the case on behalf of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that district courts could not issue nationwide injunctions, except in certain circumstances. In the case at had, four states had sued to block Trump’s order, saying it would force them to put in place new systems to determine who is eligible for state benefits and reduce their payments from the federal government. The appeals court said the fact that the states sued allowed it to uphold the nationwide injunction issued by the district court. The dissenting federal appeals court judge said the lower court injunction should have been overturned on grounds that the states lacked standing to sue and that the harm they claimed would occur was speculative.

“Chinese Automakers in Brazil Eye Prize: All of Latin America,” New York Times, July 23, 2025

One of the first factories in the Americas to make Chinese battery-powered cars is getting ready to open in Brazil. “Its goal,” says Times reporter Somini Sengupta, “is to reinvent the way Brazil drives, and ultimately, the rest of Latin America, much as Chinese automakers have already done across much of Asia and want to do in Europe.” Formerly run by Mercedes-Benz, the factory is now owned by Great Wall Motor. The change reflects a dramatic shift in China’s favor in one of the world’s most vital industries, one in which the dominance of American and European gas guzzling cars is fading. “Today, not only does China make and export more cars of all types than any other country in the world, Chinese firms dominate the global manufacture of battery-powered cars of the future. They also control the supply chain for virtually everything that goes into those cars,” adds Sengupta. Chinese electric vehicles are among the most advanced in the world. Some can go as far on a single charge as top-of-the-line Teslas, at lower prices. BYD vehicles, short for Build Your Dream, has developed technology that can fully charge a car in five minutes, about the same time it would take to fill up a car at a gas pump. While the Trump administration is trying to stop the advance of electric vehicles in the United States, the Chinese see in electric vehicles a rare opportunity to become powerful in a car market long dominated by other countries and companies. Its lavish support for electric vehicles means they are now flooding the world outside of the United States, alarming American companies. “It’s not just E.V.s,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley. “And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.” China has 20 percent of the European E.V. market and is now making its way into Brazil and other car-buying economies in Latin America. BYD took over a Ford factory in Brazil, marking the end of Ford car manufacturing in that country after a century in that enterprise. Brazil is the world’s sixth largest car market and is opening it up as long as manufacturers come and create factories and factory jobs in the country. But there are concerns that the new Chinese plants are mainly assembling cars with components from China, including batteries. That will not advance the industry in Brazil, said Marcio Lima Leite, head of the Brazil automaker association. “It’s very important to have competitiveness in Brazil, to produce the new technology in Brazil,” he said. Brazil also in insisting that foreign entrants make hybrids in order to meet the needs of its powerful ethanol industry. Brazil requires that ethanol make up a little more than 20 percent of every liter of gas. Though only six percent of the Brazilian market in 2024 was electric or hybrid, that share is growing quickly and they are expected to dominate the market by 2037. Cars made in Brazil "can also easily be sold in other Latin American countries, thanks to cross-border deals,” writes Sengupta. Aiding the Chinese presence in Brazil is the importance to the two countries of their trading relationship. China is Brazil’s largest trading partner. Brazil sells enormous amounts of soybeans and oil to China, and is a top customer for China’s clean energy technologies including solar panels and batteries. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has warmly praised Chinese investments in Brazil, including in the automotive sector. By contrast, the trading relationship between the United States and Brazil is turbulent because of tariffs. A Brazilian diplomat involved in global climate negotiations says some countries are a bit afraid of Chinese electric cars because of their low sticker prices and the trade threat they represent. But “I look at it as very positive news,” said the diplomat, André Corrêa do Lago. “They are making electric cars much more affordable.”

“After a Capture in Ecuador, Top Gang Leader Is Facing Drug Charges in New York,” New York Times, July 22, 2025

Ecuador’s most powerful gang leader was arraigned on drug trafficking and weapons smuggling charges in Brooklyn July 21. José Adolfo Macías “is the head of Los Choneros, a gang that has helped establish a powerful drug trafficking industry in Ecuador by infiltrating the ranks of government and terrorizing ordinary Ecuadoreans,” wrote Times reporter Santul Nerkar. Macías, 45, known as Fito, was captured by Ecuadorean authorities in June and extradited to the United States July 20. He faces a life sentence if convicted. As leader of Los Choneros since 2020, Macías tapped into a criminal network that included the Sinaloa cartel to move tons of cocaine from South America to Mexico and then to the U.S. Ecuador had not been a hotbed of violence until recently. But in the last decade local groups began forming partnerships with Mexican and Albanian cartels. They produced and distributed cocaine on a large scale, helping to make Ecuador the top exporter of the drug to Europe. The gangs including Los Choneros unleashed violence including political assassinations, kidnappings, and the killing of journalists and civilians. Macías ran his operation from prison before escaping in January 2024. The prison system was an incubator of much of the violence. Its population soared after a crackdown on low level drug offenders that kept defendants in jail until trial. “But those efforts backfired by giving the gangs fertile ground for recruitment,” said the Times’ Nerkar. Prosecutors said Macías bribed officials to let inmates control the prison system. There, he enjoyed parties with mariachi bands and fireworks. His escape set off more violence, with riots erupting in several prisons. Inmates took nearly 200 guards hostage. Bombings and kidnappings followed throughout the country. Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa, who won re-election in April, has waged an aggressive crackdown on the gangs and taken an increasingly authoritarian approach, critics say. He attended President Trump’s second inauguration and met with him at Mar-a-Lago. “Homicides declined early in his presidency but have risen more recently, prompting some Ecuadoreans to ask for an even tougher crackdown on the gangs,” said Nerkar.

“U.S. Deportees, Freed from Salvadoran Prison, Describe ‘Horror Movie,’ Washington Post, July 22, 2025

A 36-year-old office cleaner and house painter who agreed to be deported back to his home country of Venezuela in March was put on a plane by U.S. authorities and sent to El Salvador instead. “The horror movie started there,” said the man, Julio González. Teo Armus, Samantha Schmidt, Helena Carpio and Arelis R. Hernández of the Post reported what happened then: “When the shackled men refused to get off the plane, González and two other detainees told The Washington Post that they were yanked by their feet, beaten and shoved off board as the plane’s crew began to cry. Dozens of migrants were forced onto a bus and driven to a massive gray complex. They were ordered to kneel there with their foreheads pressed against the ground as guards pointed guns directly at them. ’Welcome to El Salvador, you sons of b_____s,’ a hooded figure told them, González recalled.” In their four months at the world’s biggest prison, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center or CECOT, the detainees said they were repeatedly beaten with wooden bats. González said he was robbed of thousands of dollars and prevented from contacting lawyers or calling his family. Twenty-three-year-old Joen Suárez said he was taken several times to a dark room and beaten, kicked and insulted. Twenty-two-year-old Angel Blanco Martin said he was hit so hard he lost half a molar. Blanco and Suarez said a man who identified himself as the prison director addressed them all as gang members and terrorists and told them: “This is hell and you’re never going to get out.” González said it was uncomfortably hot during the day and frigid at night. Blanco said the cells reeked of urine and sewage. Inmates were awakened at 4 a.m. and given time to wash but if seen cleaning themselves with the bucket outside showering hours were taken to a dark cell, shackled to a chair, and hit with a stick, González said. When detainees tried to wage a hunger strike in April, guards fired rubber bullets and plastic pellets at some of them, he said. Guards told them when they asked for a lawyer “that word doesn’t exist here.” The Trump administration accused the 252 Venezuelans it sent to CECOT of being violent gang members but a Post analysis found that many of them had entered the U.S. legally and were following U.S. immigration rules. [A separate New York Times investigation earlier this year concluded many were not gang members.] Two had been approved to resettle in the U.S. as refugees and at least four had temporary protected status. González entered the U.S. legally requesting asylum but was immediately detained as a gang member, he said. He had no criminal record, he said. His parents in Venezuela had expected him to return home on a deportation flight on March 13 but bad weather grounded his flight back. In a comment on the allegations, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman described the deportees as gang members and terrorists who at CECOT no longer posed a threat to the American people. “Once again the media is falling all over themselves to defend criminal illegal gang members,” said Assistant Homeland Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

“Economists Are Latest Group to Be Targeted by Venezuela’s Autocrat,” New York Times, July 22, 2025

Venezuela’s autocratic president Nicolás Maduro is going after a profession that hadn’t been considered risky previously – economists. About two dozen economists and others who publish financial data have been detained in the last two months according to a human rights group and the government itself. Times reporter Genevieve Glatsky writes that “experts say the government is seeking to control the narrative around Venezuela’s deepening financial crisis by targeting independent experts sharing data about the country’s cratering economy.” Sixty-nine-year-old Rodrigo Cabezas, a former finance minister who later criticized Maduro’s economic policies, was detained June 3 and his family hasn’t heard from him since then nor has the government provided any information. His daughter said officials from the state energy company arrived at their home in Maracaibo that day saying there was a problem with the electricity. They asked her father to come with them to resolve it but then her father later called to say it had been a trap and that intelligence agents were detaining him. She said she doesn’t know where he is. “I don’t have tears any more from crying so much,” she said. “It’s like a permanent knife in my heart.” The economy’s implosion a decade ago was caused by government mismanagement and worsened by U.S. sanctions. Inflation surged to 300,000 percent. As the local currency, the bolivar, lost its value, Venezuelans began keeping their savings in U.S. dollars. The Central Bank set an exchange rate for the dollar but most people rely on an unofficial rate called the parallel dollar that is published on websites such as Monitor Dólar and reflects what dollars actually sell for on the street. Glatsky reports that according to Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, the government believes it can stop the bolivar from losing value by silencing economists and other people who report on the unofficial exchange rate and who publish inflation data. At least five economists were arrested from May 29 to June 5, according to the human rights group Provea. At least two including Cabezas remained detained and are missing. At least 20 people associated with Monitor Dólar were detained for reporting on the parallel dollar, said a top Maduro deputy, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. On his weekly TV program Cabello denounced economists “who are saying the bolivar is worthless – these people are playing with fire.” Monitor Dólar has shut down. The plight of the missing economists fits a pattern. “In recent years, it has become common for Venezuelan authorities to detain people and hold them indefinitely at undisclosed locations with no contact allowed with family members or lawyers,” said Glatsky. Gunson told her “nothing surprises us” now. “There now appears to be no rules. The law, the Constitution, nothing counts anymore.”

“Migrants at Ice Jail in Miami Made to Kneel to Eat ‘Like Dogs’, Report Alleges,” The Guardian, July 21, 2025

Migrants detained at a Miami jail were shackled with their hands behind their back and forced to kneel to eat “like dogs” from Styrofoam plates, according to a report on three overcrowded facilities in south Florida. The report by the advocacy groups Human Rights Watch, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Sanctuary of the South was based on interviews with detainees at three Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. The report said that dozens of men were packed into a holding cell for hours and fed lunch at 7 pm. Degrading treatment at all three facilities was common, the groups said. Females were made to use toilets in full view of males at the Krome North service processing center in west Miami. The jail was so crowded that some detainees were kept for more than 24 hours in a parking lot. One man said “the whole bus smelled strongly of feces.” When finally moved into the facility many of the group were crammed into a frigid intake room they called la hielera – the ice box – for up to 12 days. They had no bedding or warm clothing and slept on a cold concrete floor. A few of the rooms were so full that men couldn’t sit, they had to stand, a detainee said. At the Miami jail staff allegedly turned off a surveillance camera and a “disturbance control team” brutalized detainees who complained about the lack of medical attention given to a detainee coughing up blood. The Guardian said it contacted ICE for comment but none apparently was given before the story was published.

“Prominent Human Rights Group Flees El Salvador,” New York Times, July 18, 2025

The human rights group Cristosal has shut down in El Salvador and its two dozen employees have left the country. Its director Noah Bullock blamed threats and harassment by the police. The closure “sends a chilling message to survivors of abuse, civil society and the press about the cost of standing up to power and denouncing corruption and human rights violations,” said Juanita Goebertus of Human Rights Watch. Salvadoran authorities arrested Cristosal’s anti-corruption director Ruth López in May. A well-known lawyer, she remains imprisoned. She led investigations into potential acts of corruption in the government of President Nayib Bukele. One case concerned the use of pandemic funds. Another looked at the use of public money to pay for the use of Pegasus software on phones to spy on journalists and rights groups. She was accused of illicit enrichment after her arrest. Times reporter Annie Correal said López “denied the charges and called for a public trial – shouting ‘I am a political prisoner’ – outside a hearing before being sent to prison in June, riveting the public to her case.” Another lawyer, Enrique Anaya, was arrested after he denounced her arrest and publicly called Bukele a dictator, a term Bukele himself has embraced. Bullock said other Cristosal employees have been monitored and visited by the police at night in what he described as “a new wave of repression.” Bullock said Cristosal has been threatened and surveilled for years, including with Pegasus software, but now feels it would have no legal recourse if employees are detained. “In the total absence of any institutions where we could defend ourselves – without minimal rule of law and due process – we felt we couldn’t continue to expose the organization and its staff.” Bukele declared a state of emergency in 2022 which remains in effect. It suspended normal due process and has involved the imprisonment of more than 80,000 people, most from mass arrests. Cristosal stood out among rights groups “for putting names and faces to the numbers, working closely with victims and families to bring to light arbitrary arrests and prison deaths,” Correal wrote. The state of emergency was originally intended to target violent street gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18 but “now is being used as a political weapon against political voices,” said Bullock. Bukele meanwhile has entrenched his political power by winning the right to run for re-election as many times as he wants (see following story). Journalists from the investigative news outlet El Faro also have left the country. Under the Biden administration, U.S. officials spoke out concerning human rights issues under Bukele but President Trump has remained silent.

“U.S. Swaps Venezuelans Sent to El Salvador for Americans Held by Caracas,” Washington Post, July 18, 2025

More than 250 Venezuelans deported in March by the Trump administration and flown to El Salvador to be detained in its brutal “CECOT” prison were sent back to Venezuela July 18 in exchange for 10 Americans held by that country’s government. A senior Trump administration official said there are now no more Americans detained in Venezuela. Karen DeYoung and Samantha Schmidt of the Post reported that “Friday’s swap was a remarkable development after President Donald Trump did not follow a court order – issued as the planes were in flight or preparing for takeoff – to halt and reverse most of the removals in a high-stakes early bid to claim executive power and prove he was serious about ridding the country of illegal migrants.” The administration never provided a list of the names of the deportees and claimed it no longer had control over them after they were sent to CECOT [which El Salvador later denied]. The Trump administration said that many of the Venezuelans were violent criminals but provided no evidence to support that. An administration official said July 18 that all 252 Venezuelans were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang but did not provide evidence showing that to be the case. “But numerous news and court filings have indicated that many of the Venezuelans were not violent criminals, much less members of the gang,” the Post reporters said. Some had been legally living in the United States, they added. “As the Venezuelans simply disappeared, none was given an opportunity to challenge their detention or deportation and family members were not informed. Inmates at the prison are not allowed any contact with the outside world.”

“Bolsonaro, Accused of Urging U.S. Hostility, Ordered to Wear Ankle Bracelet,” Washington Post, July 18, 2025

Brazilian authorities July 18 accused former president Jair Bolsonaro of conspiring with his son Eduardo (see story below) to incite hostility against and destabilize Brazil, and ordered him to wear an ankle bracelet. They also barred the former president, who faces trial by Brazil’s Supreme Court on charges of attempting a violent coup against Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from contacts with foreign governments. Post reporter Terrence McCoy said the order also “also placed Bolsonaro under house arrest outside of business hours and prohibited him from communicating with others under Supreme Court investigation – including his son Eduardo.” The measures were the clearest sign yet that the Brazilian government has no intention of backing off the prosecution of Bolsonaro in the wake of a 50 percent tariff planned by President Trump to stop his trial set for later this year. The Bolsonaros were “willfully and consciously acting with illicit intent…with the hope of trying to submit the functioning of the Federal Supreme Court to the scrutiny of a foreign state,” said Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in ordering the measures. The goal of the father and son was to “coerce the court,” he said. Lula accused Bolsonaro’s supporters in a July 17 speech of siding with U.S. President Donald Trump to the detriment of Brazil. “They’re true traitors of the homeland,” Lula said. “They don’t care about the economy of the country or the damages caused to our people.” A statement by Jair Bolsonaro’s defense team said it was “surprised and indignant” over the “severe restrictions.”

“Spurred by Bolsonaro’s Son, Trump Mulls Sanctions on Brazilian Judge,” Washington Post, July 17, 2025

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is working closely with the White House to impose sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who is to preside over the upcoming trial of his father on charges of leading an attempted coup, the Washington Post has learned. Post reporter Terrence McCoy said that “if implemented, the sanctions against Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes would dramatically escalate a diplomatic feud between the Western Hemisphere’s two most populous nations – which erupted last week after Trump announced plans for a 50 percent tariff on products from Brazil, citing the country’s ‘witch hunt’ against Bolsonaro.” The former president has been charged with overseeing a conspiracy to assassinate rivals and to use the military to hold onto power after he was defeated in late 2022 by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. [Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro launched an attack on government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023, causing damage to the Supreme Court building and other buildings.] In a video filmed outside the White House July 16, Eduardo Bolsonaro said “things are happening at this exact moment,” referring to sanctions against de Moraes. “Decisions are being made.” Appearing with him was a right-wing Brazilian influencer, Paulo Figueiredo, who has been charged with taking part in the alleged coup. He said sanctions on allies and supporters of de Moraes were also under discussion. The Trump tariffs were “the beginning of a journey that could be dark for Brazil,” he said. Lula said last week in response to the tariffs on Brazil that he would not negotiate over the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro. “We have solid and independent institutions,” he said. “No one is above the law.” The sanctions under discussion likely would involve invoking the Magnitsky Act, which allows the government to place sanctions on foreign nationals accused of corruption and human rights violations. Those sanctions traditionally have been overseen by the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control. A senior State Department official said that office recently firmly declined to move ahead with the sanctions. “It’s difficult to conceive of an action that the Trump administration could take in the U.S.-Brazil relationship that would be more detrimental to U.S. credibility in the promotion of democracy than sanctioning a Supreme Court justice of a foreign country because we don’t like his judicial views,” the official said. Trump said in a July 17 letter to Bolsonaro “this trial should end immediately!” and “I will be watching closely.”

“Migrants Held in Everglades Describe Chaos,” New York Times, July 17, 2025

Men at the new immigration detention center in the Everglades championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) do not have pencils or books or TV. Lights stay on throughout the night making sleep difficult. Since the center’s July 3 opening, it has rained almost every day causing leaks in the tents where detainees stay, and bugs crawl in. Such is the life described by several detainees at the hastily built center Republicans named Alligator Alcatraz, according to Patricia Mazzei and Hamed Aleaziz of the Times. They “described infrequent showers, meals that amounted to little more than snacks, other detainees falling ill with flulike symptoms and sleep deprivation. They described unrest over a lack of information, recreation and access to medication.” Rick Herrera, one of the detainees who called a reporter repeatedly over five days, said “it’s a tinderbox.” The center is remarkable because it’s the only state-run facility for federal immigration detainees, what DeSantis called a “force multiplier” for federal authorities. DeSantis is eying the opening of another such facility in northern Florida. U.S. Homeland Security Kristi Noem said other states want to follow Florida’s lead. A federal-state immigration process known as 287(g) lets local officials arrest and detain migrants on behalf of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It isn’t clear though whether detainees at the Everglades center will be transferred to ICE control before being deported. One government official interviewed by the Times said most of the men at the center do not have a criminal conviction. “At least some were transfers from local jails who had been taken into custody after getting pulled over for traffic violations; others had been transferred there from ICE custody,” the Times said. The decision on who to detain is up to the state of Florida, said an ICE official. Another government official said that 60 percent of the detainees at the center either have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. A former Justice Department official who served in the Biden administration said states aren’t permitted to create their own detention systems. “Everyone who values freedom and accountability should be deeply worried,” said the former official, Lucas Gutentag. ICE does not list detainees at the Florida center in its public database. That makes it hard for family members and lawyers of detainees to find out if they are there or have been deported. Family members and lawyers haven’t been allowed to visit, they say. They can make unlimited phone calls, but they may be monitored or recorded. Visiting state and federal lawmakers have provided mixed reports. A Republican Florida state senator, Blaise Ingoglia, called a bunk at an empty unit “better than my bed at home.” Democratic lawmakers said they got a sanitized tour and conditions are worse than at ICE detention centers. Herrera, the detainee who repeatedly contacted the Times, said he arrived at the center July 9 as part of a busload of detainees that was not immediately processed. They were kept on the bus overnight with no food or drink and shackled at their hands and feet, he said. The 55-year-old Herrera was released from prison two years ago after serving time for carjacking. “He has lived in the United States since he was 3 and has no record of citizenship in Argentina, where his family was from, making him difficult to deport,” the Times said.

“Argentina Under Milei: a Tale of Two Economies,” Agence France-Presse, July 16, 2025

The new economy in Argentina created by President Javier Milei has caused car and real-estate sales to boom. Lots of Argentines now board planes headed for tourist excursions abroad. But inequality is growing and life for many Argentines is harder. Sonia Avalos of Agence France-Presse writes that “on the other side of a very complicated economic coin, consumption is dropping precipitously among low- and middle-income groups while more and more people work in precarious jobs and buy groceries on credit.” Since becoming president in December 2023 Milei has curbed state spending and runaway inflation, with price increases reaching a five-year monthly low in May. But the peso has been devalued and deep subsidy cuts have made access to housing, health care and education unaffordable for millions. Consumer spending dropped sharply last year. A “tentative rebound has been unequal” says Avalos; “spending on tangible assets such as apartments and cars has skyrocketed among the rich, while ever more poorer people cannot afford shoes or food.” Nine of ten households are in debt and more than that have defaulted on a loan. Meanwhile, car sales in the first half of 2025 were the best in seven years with sales up almost 80 percent over 2024, according to Sebastian Beato, president of Argentina’s ACARA car dealers association. Loans are cheaper and a tax amnesty has led Argentines to bring out billions of US dollars they’d stashed in various places. Real estate investments grew 22 percent in May compared to the prior May and more mortgages were taken out in the first four months of 2025 than in all of 2024. Between January and April about six million Argentines traveled abroad, 70 percent more than in the same period in 2024. But Argentina received only two million visitors, the lowest total in a decade. “Consumption is being driven largely by Argentina’s upper class, which comprises no more than six percent of the population,” said Avalos. Fernando Savore, the head of a small business federation, said having a job doesn’t assure financial stability because wages don’t keep pace with rising prices for gas, electricity and transport, or with school fees. “People only buy necessities like pasta and tomato puree, nothing more, and many are buying on credit,” he said.

US Deports Immigrants From Jamaica, Cuba and Other Countries to the African Kingdom of Eswatini, Associated Press, July 16, 2025

As part of its expanding program of deportation to third countries, the Trump administration has sent five immigrants it said were convicted of serious crimes to the African nation of Eswatini. Previously called Swaziland, Eswatini is one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies. Amy Fischer of Amnesty International said “anyone returned to this country is at risk of serious human rights violations. The cruelty is the point.” Fischer “said the U.S. State Department’s own 2023 human rights report found credible accounts of unlawful or arbitrary killings by security forces in Eswatini, impunity for abuses, and harsh prison conditions” according to the AP report by Geral Imray, Michelle Gumede and Rebecca Santana. Dozens of people were killed when pro-democracy protests broke out in Eswatini in 2023. About 1.2 million people live in Eswatini, which is located between South Africa and Mozambique. The deported five men are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos. U.S. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that their crimes included murder and child rape and that one was a “confirmed” gang member. They “have been terrorizing American communities” but now are “off of American soil,” she said. They are “so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.” AP described the third-country deportation program as "largely secretive." It previously deported eight men to South Sudan, which hasn't said where they are. Eswatini said the five men it received were being held in isolated units in correctional facilities and eventually would be returned to their home countries. It said it would ensure due process and make sure their human rights are respected. “Third countries are ones not specifically listed on the final order of removal issued by an immigration judge and usually not the country a deportee is from,” the AP reporters said. Trina Realmuto, an immigration lawyer challenging the program, said it is designed to send a message that people can be punished by being sent to far-flung countries. A July 9 Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo says third-country deportations are permitted without any further procedures if the State Department has received assurances it considers credible from a third country that the people sent there won’t be tortured. They can still be sent there if the State Department hasn’t received those assurances, however. In such cases, the deportee must first be notified about where they are going in a language he or she understands. The time between notice and deportation can be as little as six hours. ICE doesn’t have to ask if they are afraid to be sent there. AP said that “if the person raises concerns on their own, they’re interviewed by an asylum officer and must show it’s more likely than not they’ll be persecuted or tortured there.” Realmuto said “it’s an impossible standard to meet, especially if the person is not knowledgeable about the country.”

US Deports Immigrants From Jamaica, Cuba and Other Countries to the African Kingdom of Eswatini, Associated Press, July 16, 2025

“Ever Hotter, Southern Europe Dreams of Fjords,” New York Times, July 15, 2025

Sunny Spain once seemed a paradise in summer, but that image increasingly is marred by the reality of sandy beaches that are shrinking because of rising seas, asphyxiating temperatures, deadly floods, and terrible wildfires, says Jason Horowitz of the Times. “Spain has become the least fun-in-the-sun destination,” he wrote. The thermometer in the southwestern city of El Granado reached nearly 115 degrees in June, a national record. Floods in Valencia killed more than 200 people last year. This year, as temperatures increase, deaths are rising sharply, especially among older adults and the frail. “The main risk humankind faces today, undoubtedly is climate change,” said Sira Rego, a Spanish government official. The government is responding by “working to attract hundreds of billions [the story does say billions] of euros in investments in sustainable energy to create hundreds of thousands of new green jobs,” according to Horowitz. It’s investing in prediction systems to foresee heat waves and training health care workers to treat more heat-related illnesses. It’s also working on increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A priority in Barcelona is to build hundreds of climate shelters to protect vulnerable residents. It’s spending more than $2 billion on making buildings greener, expanding green spaces, erecting 200 shade structures and replacing pavement with dirt to better absorb and make use of rainwater. Sand from construction sites goes to shore up eroding beaches. In Seville, referred to as the “frying pan of Europe,” the city has started erecting canopies above narrow streets using white sheets. It is using an ancient system of underground ducts to bring cooler air to the surface. Water runoff is pumped into shaded public spaces, creating mist. The city has started naming heat waves to make them memorable. Otherwise, people tend to forget them once they are over and so aren’t as prepared for their dangers when they recur. But some residents welcome the relief the heat brings from “suffocating masses of tourists,” reported Horowitz. “If it’s going to be this hot, at least I’ll be able to walk by the Sagrada Familia,” said a Barcelona native.

“Under Trump, ‘Third-Country’ Deportations Are Poised to Increase,” New York Times, July 14, 2025

The Trump administration is expected to expand the use of “third-country” deportation now that the Supreme Court has ruled that eight deportees could be sent to South Sudan where all but one has no ties [The Supreme Court did so despite fears that the men would be tortured there]. “I think they’re now feeling emboldened to do it on a more widespread scale,” said Trina Realmuto, a lawyer representing the deportees. A New York Times investigation found that the administration has approached more than 50 countries about accepting U.S. deportees. The “third-country” designation refers to sending migrants to nations other than their home countries. Times reporter Mattathias Schwarz said “third-country agreements could offer a path to swiftly move large numbers of detainees out of U.S. custody with little due process.” Following the Supreme Court ruling, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency issued new guidance July 9 that could speed up deportations to third countries. It says that if a country has provided “credible diplomatic assurances” that deportees won’t be tortured or persecuted they can be sent out of the U.S. without delay. If the U.S. hasn’t been given those assurances, the guidance says ICE should inform migrants they are being sent to a specific country. “But it does not require the agency to ask if the migrant fears deportation to that country,” Schwartz wrote. “The new agency rules appear to allow deportations in as few as six hours, provided the migrant does not raise objections beforehand.” Why send deportees to a third nation? ICE has said it has a hard time getting countries to accept its own nationals. The reasons include a lack of diplomatic relations, difficulty getting travel documents quickly or in some cases because the migrant has been convicted of a crime. The new guidance still faces some obstacles because judges are still considering whether the United States has some continuing legal responsibility for how the migrants are treated. Experts appointed by the United Nations say, based on a lack of information about the deportees sent to South Sudan and others sent to El Salvador that the United States may be involved in “forced disappearance,” or state-sponsored abductions prohibited under international law. “The term is often associated with Latin American military dictatorships from the Cold War era that abducted their own citizens,” Schwartz explained. The Trump administration has been indifferent or hostile to the U.N. criticisms. “But if the charges of enforced disappearance gather momentum, that could mean further withering of the postwar image of the United States as a champion of freedom and democracy,” Schwartz said. The fate of the eight deportees to South Sudan is unknown, though the administration said the country gave assurances they would not be tortured. Trump border czar Tom Homan said he did not know if the eight were still being detained in South Sudan or where they would end up. “There’s like a hundred different endings to this,” he said. “I do not know.” Legal experts say the aggressive tactics could be applied to U.S. citizens. After El Salvador President Nayib Bukele agreed to imprison migrants deported from the U.S. in a notorious El Salvador prison, President Trump said “homegrowns are next” and “you got to build about five more places.”

“ICE Prepares to Expand Scope With $20 Billion Budget Spike,” New York Times, July 14, 2025

Now that it has massive new funding in place, the Trump administration is planning to put as many as 10,000 new immigration enforcement agents on the streets of cities like New York City and Los Angeles, and throughout the United States. “You’re going to see immigration enforcement on a level you’ve never seen it before,” said Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar. Migrant arrests in cities, immigration courts, and work sites will be ramped up, he said. Alarm is spiking that hiring will cut corners on the careful vetting required to add deportation officers. “There’s going to be a lot of people who are ill-suited to be a law enforcement officer and apply for one of these jobs,” said John Sandweg, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Biden administration. “I think you’re going to see them pushing and bending every rule they can to get them on the streets as soon as possible.” According to Times reporters Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz, “immigration advocates say they are bracing for more masked agents to descend upon local communities with heavy-handed tactics.” The head of a group that represents day laborers said “there’s an incredible sense of dread, frankly.” Homan said plans call for moving both quickly and responsibly – “we don’t want to hire the wrong people.” The massive budget bill signed into law by Trump July 4 provides $170 billion for his immigration agenda. The annual ICE budget will soar from $8 billion to roughly $28 billion, making it the highest funded federal law enforcement agency. The new round of hiring will bring the total number of ICE deportation officers to 16,000, more than the 13,700 special agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The new law also provides $45 billion for immigration detention. That will allow ICE to bring the total number of beds in detention facilities to 100,000. Robin Barnard of Human Rights First predicted “a rush to set up hasty, makeshift prisons, with subpar conditions and infrastructure.” Trump also will have $46 billion for border wall construction. Immigration courts, hampered by delays and staffing shortages, will get $3 billion more. Immigrants will have to pay a one percent tax to send money back to family and friends in their home countries. They also will have to pay $100 to apply for asylum. Andrea Flores, director of border security in Biden’s National Security Council, said all the changes will risk upending America’s role as a sanctuary for immigrants from around the world. It may take months to scale up hiring and construction, causing Trump aides to hedge on meeting their goal of deporting one million undocumented immigrants this year. People from abroad who have overstayed their visas are expected to be a major target.

“Bad Bunny’s Residency Takes on Puerto Rico’s Bad Tourists,” Washington Post, July 11, 2025

Bad Bunny – today’s biggest global superstar and Spotify’s most streamed Latin American artist in 2024 – is placing himself at the heart of the debate over the freighted impact of tourism on his homeland of Puerto Rico. On July 11 he began a three-month residency in San Juan with 30 sold-out shows. “The ambitious plan to bring fans to Puerto Rico has reignited conversations about tourism on the island, with 600,000 expected to visit over three months,” said Post travel journalist Victoria Leandra. Puerto Rico’s “tropical climate, stunning beaches and rich culture attracted more than 6.6 million passengers at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in 2024,” she said. “While many locals acknowledge tourism’s role as an economic driver, others worry about displacement, gentrification, the loss of natural resources and the erosion of cultural authenticity.” Bad Bunny – Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – expresses the growing discontent with the impact of tourism on local communities in his new album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. A big concern is that wealthy investors are buying up properties. That’s pricing out local residents and creating a housing crisis. “There’s been a rise in short-term rentals and luxury developments, and it’s impacted three of my friends who were displaced by landlords either selling or doubling, tripling their rent,” said Alexandra Figueroa, a 32-year-old resident of San Juan. At the same time, Puerto Rico is in a long-term population decline, a trend so pronounced it has been called “the emptying island,” or “la isla que se vacía.” There are now more Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S. than in Puerto Rico. That poses a threat to its cultural identity. Gabo Ramos, who makes documentaries, said “we all have neighbors who fight every day to stay on the island, myself included, to work, to protect what we have, despite economic, health and educational challenges. And then there are those who have had to leave just to be able to live instead of survive.” In a music video, Bad Bunny plays the role of a housekeeper cleaning up a beachfront vacation rental after tourists trash it. “In my life, you were a tourist,” his translated lyrics say. You only saw the best of me and not how I was suffering.” Yet in the video Puerto Ricans keep cleaning up and presenting the country proudly to the world. Some approaches to tourism are seen as wins that are not just economic but cultural. The residency concerts – in one place bringing money into Puerto Rico unlike a world tour – is designed to fill up hotels and restaurants at a time of the year when tourism is usually down. The response has been historic – an estimated 400,000 tickets sold in under four hours including 81,000 packages and 30,000 hotel rooms. Puerto Ricans had priority when it came to buying tickets. Some promoters encourage tourists to get to know the culture and get outside of San Juan and support a number of communities on the island – to leave it better than they found it. Bad Bunny’s album lists many Puerto Rican communities by name and serves as a travel checklist. The message he and others are trying to send, says Leandra, is “come visit, experience, appreciate our island – but Puerto Rico belongs to us.” [Here is a short video memorably showing the economic and cultural challenges described above and in which the voice of a character who is a frog is Bad Bunny (please copy this link and paste it into your browser: https://youtu.be/gLSzEYVDads?si=ERKzyZBhRMiEz5i0]

“10 to Serve Life for Cartel Ranch Killings,” New York Times, July 11, 2025

A Mexican court July 8 sentenced 10 men to more than 140 years apiece in prison for killing one person and disappearing two others at an abandoned ranch called Rancho Izaguirre about six hours west of Mexico City used as a cartel training center feared to be the site of many other deaths. The case concerning the site in the state of Jalisco is renewing pressure on Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum to address what Times reporter Paulina Villegas described as “the crisis of forced disappearances. More than 126,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico since such record-keeping began in 1962,” she said, attributing the figure to official data while adding that other sources say the number could be much higher. “Search groups in Jalisco have said that young people are being lured by criminal groups like the Jalisco cartel with false job offers and promises of attractive salaries,” according to Villegas. “The victims are taken to places like the [Izaguirre ranch], the groups said, where they are either trained in crime or killed” if they don’t cooperate. In March, six months after the men were arrested, volunteers looking for missing relatives found what they called underground cremation ovens, burned human remains and hundreds of bone shards at the ranch. Mexico’s attorney general said later there was no evidence that human cremations had occurred there but said it was a cartel training site. But searchers found evidence of victims, shocking a country seemingly hardened to episodes of brutal cartel violence. Photos showed hundreds of shoes piled together and piles of clothing. “The authorities published photos of more than 1,000 personal items found at the site – a chilling hint at the number of people who might have died there,” said Villegas. The pictures set off a frantic search by families from around Mexico. Sheinbaum has announced measures including unifying the nation’s fragmented identification records, but the deep ties that often exist between cartels and local authorities in parts of Mexico complicate the challenge of reducing the violence. Among those who have been arrested is a cartel leader who “has described his group killing, beating and torturing people who resisted training or tried to escape from the ranch,” Villegas said.

“Colombia Identifies New Threat in Drug War: the Autonomous Narco Drone Sub,” The Guardian, July 11, 2025

The Colombian navy announced last week that it seized an “autonomous semisubmersible “ – a crewless narco submarine – capable of transporting more than 1.5 tons of cocaine. Colombia’s first-ever seizure of such a method of narcotics transport shows how traffickers are trying to perfect more elusive shipping methods amid soaring worldwide cocaine production and demand. Harriet Barber of The Guardian reported that “the small grey vessel was equipped with antennas and a Starlink modem. Two surveillance cameras were also installed: one on the bow, providing a real-time view of the craft’s trajectory and obstacles, and another inside to monitor the engine and transmission.” The sub was on a trial run to deliver cocaine to the United States or Europe, officials believe. The Colombian navy sees autonomous technologies as “an emerging threat that is transforming the transnational criminal landscape.” It suggested that the vessel was operated by the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug-trafficking organization. Traffickers have used semisubmersibles with crews for decades. They are believed to be testing whether removing crews – often at least four people – could make the profitable drug trade on long transatlantic trips more profitable while making it harder to link shipments to specific traffickers. Narco subs are playing a growing role in shipments, though most cocaine is still moved on container ships. Worldwide cocaine production grew almost 34 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. Barber said “an estimated 25 million people used the drug, up from 17 million a decade earlier.”

“New Hampshire Judge Pauses Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order Nationwide Via Class Action Lawsuit,” Associated Press, July 10, 2025

A federal district court judge issued a decision July 10 barring the executive order issued by President Trump ending birthright citizenship from taking effect anywhere in the U.S. In doing so he certified the case as a class action lawsuit that includes all the children who will be affected. The U.S. Supreme Court recently barred federal district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions while recognizing class action lawsuits as a possible exception. The order by Judge Joseph LaPlante in New Hampshire, a George W. Bush appointee, provides for a seven-day stay allowing for an appeal. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” It’s expected that LaPlante’s order is on a fast track to review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Trump to Impose 50% Brazil Tariff, Citing Bolsonaro Trial,” Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2025

President Donald Trump said the U.S. will charge a 50 percent tariff on goods from Brazil starting August 1, citing a trial in Brazil against former President Jair Bolsonaro and legal action against U.S. tech companies as justification. He called Bolsonaro, “a Highly Respected Leader Throughout the World during his Term;” said the way Brazil is treating him is an “international disgrace;” and called his trial a witch hunt. Bolsonaro is on trial by the Brazilian Supreme Court over an alleged coup attempt against the sitting government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Da Silva and Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes “have said they would do what it takes to protect the country’s young democracy after thousands of supporters of Bolsonaro stormed the country capital in violent riots on Jan. 8, 2023, drawing comparisons with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in the U.S.,” said Journal reporters Gavin Bade and Samantha Pearson. Da Silva said “the defense of democracy is a matter for Brazilians. We are a sovereign country. We do not accept interference or tutelage from anyone.” [The Associated Press reported July 10 that da Silva “responded in a forceful statement that said Trump’s tariffs would trigger the country’s economic reciprocity law, which allows trade, investment and intellectual property agreements to be suspended against countries that harm Brazil’s competitiveness.” A July 10 New York Times story said de Moraes has ordered tech companies to take down hundreds of accounts on the grounds that they threaten Brazil’s democracy]. Elon Musk sued de Moraes earlier this year for shutting down his X social media platform for a month. Trump’s media company has sued de Moraes for illegally censoring political discourse on U.S. social media. The 50 percent tariff “would be a major disruption to $92 billion trade in goods with Brazil – a country with which the U.S. ran a trade surplus of $7.4 billion in 2024, according to the trade representative’s office,” the Journal said. Trump falsely said the U.S. had a trade deficit with Brazil. Trump warned that the tariffs could go higher than 50 percent.

“Protests Erupt in Mexico Over Advantages Enjoyed by Remote Workers,” New York Times, July 8, 2025

“Gringo, go home! “Speak Spanish or Die!” “Gentrification is colonization!” So said the signs and graffiti of protestors in Mexico City July 3^rd, whose outpouring of resentment toward the influx of foreigners who have recently settled in the city to work remotely included the ransacking of their gathering spots. Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, condemned the protest two days later but also the spreading gentrification of the city where she used to be mayor. The arrival of thousands of relatively affluent foreigners angers longtime residents because of the rents and food prices that have risen in their wake. “The playing field is not level,” said Daniela Grave, a protestor who has lived in the Roma Sur section of the city for two decades. “If they make a living in dollars, and don’t pay taxes here, we are just in unequal circumstances, Mexicans and foreigners, where those who have salaries in dollars have all the power to exert in this city and that is what should be regulated.” There are now neighborhoods where more English is spoken than Spanish. Some apartment buildings are Airbnb hubs, some with parties that go late into the night and change the atmosphere of the neighborhood. Some residents said Americans moving to Mexico could integrate more smoothly by making more of an effort to understand the culture and to learn Spanish. Forty-four-year-old Luis Sosa said he understood the frustrations of fellow residents. But he "rejected the violent, xenophobic tone of recent demonstrations, which he said echoed anti-migrant sentiment in parts of the United States,” said the Times story, reported by Emiliano Rodriguez Mega, Paulina Villegas and Simon Romero. He faulted speculation by real estate developers capitalizing on rising demand, and politicians who won’t try to regulate the trend. “We are directing anger at the wrong places. What’s unacceptable is leaving it entirely to market forces while politicians look the other way.” Sheinbaum said opposition to gentrification can’t take the form of rejecting entire nationalities. “Mexico is a country open to the world.” But she too pointed to real estate ventures as a major problem. “There is already a lot of real estate speculation derived from Airbnb rentals and all these digital platforms,” she said. “We cannot condone the rising cost of the city.” While mayor, Sheinbaum joined in an effort with Airbnb to promote Mexico City as a global hub for remote workers. Sheinbaum said at the time she didn’t believe the company would increase prices for local residents. A study published in 2024 found that some gentrified neighborhoods saw an eight-fold increase in housing prices between 2000 and 2022.

“El Salvador Says for First Time that U.S. Controls Fate of Jailed Deportees,” Washington Post, July 7, 2025

The United States government has control of the more than 130 Venezuelan migrants who’ve been held for months in a megaprison in El Salvador, according to a July 7 court filing. The government of El Salvador admitted as much in response to an inquiry it received from the United Nations on behalf of four families of migrants detained at the facility. El Salvador told the United Nations that the Trump administration was responsible for the detained relatives of the four families, contradicting repeated statements by the administration that it lacked authority to bring the migrants back from the megaprison. “The jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these people lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,” said the Salvadoran government in an April reply to the U.N., according to the court filing. “El Salvador said out loud what everyone knew: The United States is in charge of the Venezuelans shipped off in the middle of the night back in March,” said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt. “The documents filed with the court today show that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people,” said Democracy Forward, ACLU’s co-counsel. ACLU and Democracy Forward submitted the July 7 filing to Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment. The filing alleged that the Trump administration “was aware of the Salvadoran government’s statements to the United Nations and chose not to share the information with the court because U.S. officials are copied in the Salvadoran responses, which are dated in April,” wrote Post reporter Silvia Foster-Frau. El Salvador’s reply to the United Nations marked its first acknowledgement that the U.S. retained responsibility for the imprisoned migrants, said Foster-Frau. “It marks a significant contradiction to the Trump administration’s repeated claims that it lacked the authority to bring back the migrants because they are no longer in U.S. custody.” The four families claimed that a relative “was forcibly disappeared when the Trump administration secretly sent them from U.S. immigration detention centers to the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, in mid-March,” said Foster-Frau. [Among the deportees the U.S. sent to the reputedly brutal megaprison was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has alleged he was tortured there, a claim denied by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele]. The Trump administration is paying the Salvadoran government $6 million to house the deportees it sent to CECOT in mid-March. It has not released a list of their names. [However, a New York Times investigation uncovered their identities and determined that many of them did not have criminal records, despite the Trump administration’s depiction of them as violent criminals.]

“Temporary Status to Be Removed from Roughly 80,000 Hondurans, Nicaraguans After 25 Years in US,” Associated Press, July 7, 2025

The Trump administration says nearly 80,000 people from Honduras and Nicaragua will no longer be protected from deportation under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. They’ve been allowed to live and work in the U.S. since 1999 after a devastating hurricane (Mitch) hit Central America in 1998. The July 7 announcement ends TPS status in two months for some 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans. The TPS Alliance, which represents people with temporary protected status, said however that 40,000 Hondurans would be affected because many had obtained legal status in other ways. The Alliance filed a lawsuit July 7 challenging the decision as unlawful. Rebecca Santana and Gisela Solomon of the Associated Press reported that previous administrations, especially the Biden administration, essentially rubber-stamped TPS renewals, “and people covered by what’s supposed to be a temporary status end up staying in the United States for years,” according to critics. Jose Palma of the National TPS Alliance said the announcement will affect people who have been living in the U.S. for nearly three decades. “They have established families. Investments. It is a community that…has undergone annual background checks, that has shown…all its contributions to this country. It’s cruel what is happening.” Francis Garcia, who has had TPS status for 25 years, considers the U.S. her country and has three adult children who were born here. “I am very afraid to return to Honduras,” she said. “I can’t imagine it; I wouldn’t want to.” Fifty-seven-year-old Teofilo Martinez has lived in the U.S. for half of his life, under TPS protection most of the time. “He arrived with nothing but now has his own construction company and he is also a realtor,” the AP reporters said. “We ask that our good behavior and contributions be taken into consideration,” he said “There are no conditions in Honduras for us to return.” As part of its mass deportation drive, the Trump administration has also ended TPS for about 350,000 Venezuelans, 500,000 Haitians, more than 160,000 Ukrainians, and thousands of people from Afghanistan and other countries. Venezuelans, Haitians and Ukrainians have filed suit to block their deportations.

“El Salvador Says for First Time that U.S. Controls Fate of Jailed Deportees,” Washington Post, July 7, 2025

“El Salvador’s President Denies that Kilmar Ábrego García Was Abused in Notorious Prison,” The Guardian, July 4, 2025

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, denied that Kilmar Ábrego García was beaten or deprived of sleep as he claimed in court filings (see story below). Bukele said in a social media post that Ábrego García, wrongly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison in March and returned in June to face human smuggling charges, wasn’t tortured nor had he lost weight. Ábrego García claimed that he was so badly treated that he lost more than 30 pounds during his first two weeks at the facility. Bukele showed images of Ábrego García in his detention cell and asked if he’d been tortured, deprived of sleep and starved “why does he look so well in every picture?” Lawyers for Ábrego García said that at one point he and four other prisoners were sent to another part of the prison where they were photographed with mattresses and better food that appeared to be staged to document better conditions.

“Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Eight Migrants to South Sudan,” New York Times, July 3, 2025

The Supreme Court said in an unsigned order July 3 that the Trump administration can deport eight men to South Sudan, where two dissenting justices said they likely face torture or death. A previous Supreme Court decision had paused a lower court order blocking their banishment to war-torn South Sudan on the grounds that the men should have had an opportunity to argue in court they should not be sent to a country where they faced torture. Attorneys for the eight men went back to the lower court to say the earlier Supreme Court ruling should not be applied to the eight men, and the lower court agreed. The Supreme Court disagreed, however. The issue was deportations to so-called third countries – those other than the country of origin. Only one of the eight is a citizen of South Sudan. The others are from Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. All eight had been convicted of serious crimes. “These sickos will be in South Sudan by Independence Day,” said Tricia McLaughlin of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The administration said in a court filing in June it had received “credible diplomatic assurances” from the government of South Sudan that the men would not be tortured, reported Adam Liptak and Mattathias Schwartz of the Times. A lawyer for the migrants, Trina Realmuto, “said she had no direct knowledge of those assurances and did not know what the South Sudanese government in Juba intended to do with the men after they landed,” the reporters wrote. “What the government wants to do, concretely, is send the eight noncitizens it illegally removed from the United States from Djibouti to South Sudan, where they will be turned over to the local authorities without regard for the likelihood that they will face torture or death,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent. An expert on South Sudan said in a filing by the migrants’ lawyers that it was likely they would be detained by security forces and then experience “torture, or conditions that amount to torture.” Sotomayor said the high court’s new order “not only excuses (once again) the government’s undisguised contempt for the judiciary; it also leaves the district court without any guidance about how this litigation should proceed” [presumably a reference to litigation to finally determine whether due process rights without notice are violations of due process in third-nation cases]. She added that “today’s order clarifies only one thing: Other litigants must follow the rules, but the Administration has the Supreme Court on speed dial.” The Times reporters said the Supreme Court’s more recent rulings concerning third-country deportations “appear to give little weight to due process.” Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that many of the eight men had either finished or were close to finishing the sentences for the serious crimes they committed. Some had already planned to return to their home country after serving their sentence, said Guardian reporter Maani Singh (“US Supreme Court Clears Way for Deportations of Eight Men to South Sudan,” July 3, 2025).

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia Says He Was Beaten and Subjected to Psychological Torture in El Salvador Jail,” Associated Press, July 2, 2025

Kilmar Abrego Garcia said that while a prisoner in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison he was subject to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, and psychological torture. Garcia was deported there mistakenly in March by the Trump administration, which then resisted pressure for many weeks to return him to the United States despite the error. He said in court documents that he was kicked and hit so much during his first day at the prison that the next day he had bruises and lumps all over his body. According to the AP report, he said he and 20 others were forced to kneel all night long and if anyone fell the guards hit them. He said in the documents that those held at CECOT “were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.” Prison officials told him repeatedly that they would send him to cells with gang members who would tear him apart, he said. Abrego Garcia said he saw violent attacks in nearby cells and screams throughout the night. He said he lost more than 30 pounds in his first two weeks at the prison. When the Trump administration finally did bring him back to the U.S., it was to face criminal charges of smuggling. His attorneys have called those charges “preposterous.” A federal judge in Tennessee has said he is eligible for release under certain circumstances as he awaits trial. But the judge has kept him in jail per the request of his attorneys who fear he will be deported if released. The Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia earlier this hear occurred despite a 2019 order by a judge that he not be returned to El Salvador because he likely would be persecuted by gangs who had terrorized him and his family.

“Death Follows Nicaraguans to Costa Rica,” New York Times, July 1, 2025

Thousands of Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica who fled their homeland following its brutal government repression of demonstrations in 2018 are now wondering if they need to pack up and run a second time, according to Frances Robles of the Times. “We are not safe in Costa Rica,” said Wilfredo Miranda Aburto, a Nicaraguan journalist. Renewed fears that the authoritarian leaders of Nicaragua will kill dissidents beyond its borders follow the June 19 assassination of Roberto Samcam Ruiz in his home in Costa Rica. He was a retired Nicaraguan army major who spoke out against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. His killing “became at least the sixth time a Nicaraguan dissident was shot, abducted or killed in Costa Rica since hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans fled their country after deadly protests there in 2018,” according to Robles. Samcam was among the hundreds of thousands who took part in the enormous protests against the government of Nicaragua’s co-presidents, Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo. In the Carazo region of Nicaragua, where Samcam lived, protestors blocked roads and brought transit and the economy to a stop. After the 2018 protests, Samcam used his knowledge of military matériel to show that the armed forces, not the police, conducted the crackdown. The Ortegas were particularly furious at Samcam, who became a blogger, political analyst and radio host, and other former Sandinistas who they regarded as traitors, analysts said. Jimmy Guevara, a Nicaraguan journalist living in Spain, said he received so many death threats while living in Costa Rica that he had to move eight times in four years. Joao Moldonado, a former Sandinista from Carazo, who was targeted by gunmen in Costa Rica and survived, has now left the country. “It is a reality: This is transnational persecution,” he said. Costa Rica has a long history of offering refuge to politically persecuted people in Nicaragua, said Carlos Fernando Chamorro, a prominent Nicaraguan journalist. “We trust that this is a country of peace, democracy and democratic institutions.” However, Costa Rica’s president, Rodrigo Chaves Robles, has said nothing on the matter, alarming exiles. He is “apparently unwilling to antagonize an important trade partner and an increasingly authoritarian government,” Robles said. Dissidents want Chaves to publicly denounce what appears to be Nicaragua’s role in the attacks. “They have to make firm statements, not only regarding this recent incident, but also regarding their repudiation of any actions by foreign forces in their territory,” said 68-year-old Ana Quirez, who was expelled from Nicaragua in 2018. Nicaraguan exiles who now fear for their safety in Costa Rica no longer have the United States as a place to take refuge. President Trump has ended the refugee program that resettled Nicaraguans in the United States.

“Trump’s Deal with El Salvador Guts MS-13 Fight,” New York Times, July 1, 2025

An agreement in which the government of El Salvador is imprisoning deportees from the United States in its notorious CECOT prison in return for payments from the Trump administration is undercutting the American government’s push to dismantle the violent MS-13 gang, a New York Times investigation found. This April, federal prosecutors who had accused an MS-13 gang leader known as “Vampiro” of terrorism, bloodshed and corruption leading to his arrest in February 2023, suddenly and quietly asked a federal judge to drop the charges. They cited national security concerns in saying they needed to return to El Salvador the gang leader, who had been accused of overseeing killings in three countries including the United States. The surprising reversal came soon after President Trump reached the deal with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on imprisoning the deportees. That agreement included a sweetener, added at Bukele’s request – that the U.S. return to El Salvador key MS-13 leaders in its custody. American and Salvadoran officials said they were being sent back to face justice, reported Alan Feuer, Maria Abi-Habib, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Annie Correal, Willam K. Rashbaum and Devin Barrett of the Times. They added, however, that “the Trump administration has not acknowledged another reason that Mr. Bukele would want them back: U.S. prosecutors have amassed substantial evidence of a corrupt pact between the Salvadoran government and MS-13 leaders, who they say agreed to drive down violence and bolster Mr. Bukele politically in return for cash and perks in jail.” Hailed by Trump as a major crackdown on crime, the U.S.-Salvador deal is actually undermining a lengthy U.S. investigation into the gang according to multiple sources cited by the Times. “Two major ongoing cases against some of the gang’s highest-ranking leaders could be badly damaged, and other defendants could be less likely to cooperate or testify in court, they said.” The deal undercuts Trump’s repeated pledges to dismantle MS-13, central to his tough-on-crime brand. Some federal prosecutors involved in that effort express concern Bukele wants the gang leaders back to keep them from revealing damaging information about his government. U.S. officials have long been troubled by signs of a relationship between Bukele and MS-13, the Times said. Christopher Musto, who was a member of the federal prosecutorial task force, said of Bukele “he was dirty. He was corrupt. And now he’s sitting next to the president in the Oval Office and he’s got prime access to the leader of the free world.” A White House spokeswoman said “any suggestion that President Trump isn’t successfully eradicating terrorist criminal gangs from the United States is just plain stupid.” Bukele has denied a pact with gang leaders. But federal prosecutors charged in 2020 that MS-13 leaders had helped secure votes for the party that governed El Salvador before Bukele took over. U.S. officials said the Bukele government provided the gangsters with money, an allegation he rejected as an “obvious lie.” The Times investigation also found that federal investigators were examining whether some U.S. aid to El Salvador was “being illicitly funneled to benefit MS-13.”

“On Pivotal Day for His Bill, Trump Leaves Washington for ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’” New York Times, July 1, 2025

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was part of the group that tagged along with President Trump July 1 and the reporters he invited to join his tour of the immigrant detention center the state of Florida is constructing in the Everglades. Said Noem: “The other day, I was talking to some marshals that have been partnering with ICE. They said they had detained a cannibal and put him on a plane to take him home, and while they had him in his seat, he started to eat himself and they had to get him off and get him medical attention. These are the kind of deranged individuals that are on our streets in America.” Trump said that very soon the facility, named “Alligator Alcatraz” by Republicans, “will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” Times reporter Shawn McCreesh said that Trump, who had described the area as slithering with snakes and alligators, then went on to describe examples of violent crimes in gory detail and say that even the worst criminals would have a hard time getting out of the surrounding swampland alive. A wildlife expert said alligators don’t really hunt people and pythons don’t attack people unless it’s a small child – “we’re not really on their radar as food.” But McCreesh recounted “why let the facts get in the way of a bloody good story line? The president who was so tough on crime that he’d see men fed to the gator’s maw before letting them run free!” The tour was meant to encourage lawmakers back in Washington to pass Trump’s budget bill so the facility and other places like it could get the money they need to operate. The legislation, later passed, provides $175 billion toward immigration enforcement and border security. Concluded McCreesh: “The facility’s nickname and the president’s tour of it on Tuesday were in keeping with so much of this administration’s approach to immigration policy in that it was meant to inspire terror and publicity.” [In her July 5, 2025 “Letter from an American,” Heather Cox Richardson recounted this perspective on emerging immigration policy by Harvard sociologist Theda Skocpol: “Immigration is an area where a U.S. President can exercise virtually unchecked coercive power, especially if backed by a Supreme Court majority and corrupted Department of Justice. Now Congress has given ICE unprecedented resources – much of this windfall to be used for graft with private contractors Trump patronizes, but lots of [money] to hire street agents willing to mask themselves and do whatever they’re told against residents and fellow American citizens. [Administration officials] are not interested only in rounding up undocumented immigrants,” she wrote to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. “They will step up using ICE and DOJ enforcements…to harass Democrats [and] citizen critics, and subvert future elections if they can.”

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