US Politics

The House Un-American Activities Committee was given sweeping powers to investigate subversion in the US in the mid-20th century. 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

From capturing Maduro to proposing a take over of Greenland – people respond to the president’s rhetoricAs Donald Trump continues to call for the US to take control of Greenland, not long after the US captured the deposed president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, we asked people in the US what they thought about Trump’s foreign intervention and rhetoric. Here are some of their responses. Continue reading… More

Aisha Chughtai, who represents the district where Alex Pretti was fatally shot, vows to fight through ‘despair’ caused by federal immigration enforcementMinneapolis residents, angry and anxious, resolve to fight on as they mourn Alex PrettiAfter weeks of federal raids and aggression, Minneapolis city council member Aisha Chughtai said what her community needs most now “is for ICE to leave Minnesota”.Chughtai represents the district where 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday, the second killing of a Minneapolis resident by a federal agent on the city’s southside this year. Continue reading… More

Two Democratic ex-leaders warn core American values are under assault – key US politics stories from Sunday 25 January at a glanceDemocratic ex-presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have spoken out against the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old nurse in Minneapolis, the second person to be shot dead by federal immigration officers in the city this month.In a statement released on Sunday, Obama and his wife, Michelle, described the killing of Alex Pretti as “a heartbreaking tragedy” and “a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault”. Continue reading… More

Minnesota governor pressures president to end surge of immigration officers in his state before it costs another lifeMinnesota governor Tim Walz appealed to Donald Trump to withdraw federal agents from Minnesota on Sunday, a day after US border patrol officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was monitoring the immigration crackdown.“What’s the plan, Donald Trump?” Walz asked at a news conference. “What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?” Continue reading… More

Former president and first lady say killing should be ‘wake-up call’ and federal agents are not operating in lawful wayPressure mounted on Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday to fully investigate the previous day’s killing by federal immigration officers of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.Calls for an investigation have come from all sides of the political divide after video analysis showed officers had removed from Pretti a handgun he was reportedly permitted to carry – and which he was not handling – before fatally shooting him. Continue reading… More