Evelyn Reynolds

President and team soften harsh rhetoric after fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents – key US politics stories from Monday 26 January at a glanceThe US news cycle remained fixed on Donald Trump’s ICE crackdown in Minnesota on Monday as outrage and calls for accountability mount following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents.While there is no sign the aggressive tactics used by immigration enforcement are coming to an end, Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis said the administration will begin to scale back the number of federal agents in Minneapolis starting on Tuesday, as the president and his team soften their harsh rhetoric about the incident. Continue reading… More

A conflicted mood has lingered over Utah’s long-running film festival with premieres and parties continuing but stars speaking out against government crueltyThe news began to spread through the Sundance film festival on Saturday morning, as people emerged from early screenings or long nights out at the bars on Main Street.“If you all have not heard what’s going on in Minnesota this morning, someone else was murdered by ICE,” director Ava DuVernay told the audience at a panel on freedom of expression, referring to the shooting that morning of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, by federal agents in Minneapolis. Continue reading… More

Lawyers argue that surge ordered by Trump administration amounts to an illegal occupation of the stateA federal court in Minneapolis heard arguments on Monday on whether the Trump administration’s deployment of 3,000 immigration agents to Minnesota has crossed the line from law enforcement into unconstitutional occupation.Hours later, Kate Menendez, the Biden-appointed US district judge overseeing the case, ordered the federal government to respond to the assertion that the Trump administration’s so-called “Operation Metro Surge” enforcement campaign was intended to “punish plaintiffs for adopting sanctuary laws and policies”. Continue reading… More

The shooting of Alex Pretti was carried out by a federal agent licensed to act with impunity. The US must be rescued from Trump’s authoritarianismFollowing the fatal shooting earlier this month of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, his colleagues received reassurance that they continued to enjoy “federal immunity” for their actions. “Anybody who lays a hand on you or tries to obstruct you is committing a felony,” the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, had previously stated. “No city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.”Words have consequences. Ms Good, a US citizen and mother of three children, had in fact been attempting to drive away from a protest in Minneapolis, where ICE’s deportation snatch squads have terrorised migrants and those who have attempted to defend their rights. On Saturday, in the same city, the same quasi-paramilitary force was responsible for a second shocking death. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot multiple times in the back after being wrestled to the ground and pepper-sprayed.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading… More

The prime minister says defeating Reform UK is Labour’s overriding task. Yet by blocking Andy Burnham, he chose self-preservation over the coalition politics needed to winJoe Biden repeatedly said that Donald Trump was an existential threat. Yet the former US president clung on to his party’s nomination when he ought to have allowed a better candidate to take on Mr Trump. What happened next is history. There is an uncomfortable parallel in Britain. Sir Keir Starmer insists that defeating Reform UK is the overriding priority. He warns of the “fight of our lives” against a party offering “racist” policies. But when faced with a choice between maximising Labour’s chances of beating a far-right insurgent and protecting his own position, he – like Mr Biden – chose the latter.By blocking Andy Burnham from being selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate for an upcoming byelection in Manchester, where he is a popular mayor, Sir Keir has mistaken authority for control. In politics, this desire for control usually signals fear of one’s own side. Cowardice would be to avoid risk. This is where prime ministerial pride has overridden purpose and principles. If beating Reform UK really mattered above all else, Sir Keir would deploy his strongest political weapon in the form of Mr Burnham, even if it threatened his own position. Failing to do so doesn’t just weaken the message; it reveals that the message was never really believed.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading… More

The US cites the ‘wisdom’ of historical immigration policy. But nation states in the Americas have spent more time with open borders than closedLate last year, Donald Trump’s White House published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) outlining its vision for the world. At the time, the plan raised alarm for dismissing European alliances (now largely confirmed after Trump threatened Nato allies over Greenland), previewing interventions in Latin America (also largely confirmed by recent military action in Venezuela), and aligning closely with the priorities of the Kremlin.The document also demonizes immigrants. In one widely cited passage, it even claims that “unchecked migration” has gotten so out of control that Europe is facing imminent “civilizational erasure”. On these grounds, the plan makes ending “The Era of Mass Migration” a top priority for the US. Continue reading… More

Alexander, his wife and son, who fled danger under Putin, fighting for security – and compensation – after torment of migration journeyAlmost a year after Donald Trump strong-armed a deal with Costa Rica to receive 200 people from other countries who were being deported from the United States after being denied the right to request asylum, a small handful remain there in legal limbo and fighting for compensation.The asylum seekers flown to Costa Rica in chains last February, despite not being criminals, were from 20 other countries, chiefly parts of Asia and Africa and included 81 children. They had all tried to request refuge at the US-Mexico border but were quickly removed from American soil after Trump returned to the White House and effectively closed the US asylum system. In the face of a variety of political difficulties with deporting them to their native countries, the Trump administration sent them to Costa Rica, as he did others to Panama. Continue reading… More

Pardons come as president and Republicans seem intent on investigating fraud in Democratic-run statesDonald Trump’s mass pardoning of those convicted in connection to the January 6 insurrection raised eyebrows last year, but more recently his pardons have appeared to have a particular focus: to grant clemency to those convicted of fraud.Since taking office, Trump has pardoned dozens of people convicted of white-collar crimes, including several billionaires, with most of the 13 pardons he quietly issued this month granting clemency to people convicted of fraud. Continue reading… More