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157 entries in 'Legal Interview' |
2025/09/01
‘Ketamine Queen’ pleads guilty to selling fatal dose to Matthew Perry
2025/08/27
US deportation flights hit record highs as carriers try to hide the planes
2025/08/04
Victims feeling exhausted and anxious about wrangling over Epstein files
2025/06/02
Trump formally asks Congress to claw back approved spending targeted by DOGE
2025/05/25
Cuban exiles were shielded from deportation. Now Trump is cracking down
2025/04/12
Ex-UK lawmaker charged with cheating in election betting scandal
2025/03/21
Turkish court orders key Erdogan rival jailed pending trial on corruption charges
2025/03/16
Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes
2025/01/24
New report outlines risks of artificial intelligence in early stages
2025/01/13
Americans’ trust in nation’s court system hits record low, survey finds
2025/01/09
Trump asks the Supreme Court to block sentencing in his hush money case
2024/12/19
Amazon workers strike at multiple facilities as Teamsters seek labor contract
2024/12/08
US inflation ticked up last month as some price pressures remain persistent
2024/12/04
Court seems reluctant to block state bans on medical treatments for minors
2024/11/11
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is elected as the state’s governor
2024/10/15
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to stay in jail while appeals court takes up bail fight
2024/09/21
Mexican cartel leader’s son convicted of violent role in drug trafficking plot
2024/09/11
Google faces new antitrust trial after ruling declaring search engine a monopoly
2024/07/28
Biden unveils a proposal to establish term limits for the Supreme Court
2024/06/07
Three Americans in alleged coup attempt appear in Congo military court
2024/05/10
Appeals court upholds Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction
2024/05/06
Chad holds presidential election after years of military rule
2024/05/03
Trump faces prospect of additional sanctions for violating gag order
2024/05/01
Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has memoir coming
2024/04/22
Supreme Court will weigh banning homeless people from sleeping outside
2024/03/08
China’s top court, prosecutors report surging cyberscams
2024/03/01
Supreme Court casts doubt on GOP-led states’ efforts to regulate social media
2024/02/19
Ken Paxton petitions to stop Dallas woman from getting an abortion
2024/02/15
Attorney Jenna Ellis pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case
2024/01/04
Trump asks US Supreme Court to overturn Colorado ruling
2023/12/07
Mexico’s Supreme Court lifts 2022 ban on bullfighting
2023/11/02
Donald Trump Jr. takes the witness stand in fraud trial
2023/10/15
Court upholds judge’s finding that Tesla acquisition of Solar City was fair
2023/08/07
Russian court imposes 3- to 6-year sentences for distributing tainted drinks
2023/07/17
Diversify or die: San Francisco’s downtown is a wake-up call for other cities
2023/06/24
Yale student who reported rape can be sued for defamation
2023/04/07
Court rules documents in Sanford case must be unsealed
2023/01/05
South Carolina Supreme Court strikes down state abortion ban
2022/11/15
Man granted new trial in 2006 triple murder freed after plea
2022/11/07
Jackson, in dissent, issues first Supreme Court opinion
2022/10/20
Ohio governor’s race split by pandemic, abortion, gun rights
2022/10/06
W.Va. Supreme Court hears arguments in school voucher case
2022/09/19
Iran faces US in international court over asset seizure
2022/08/14
Appeals court puts Georgia PSC elections back on ballot
2022/08/02
Family loses Supreme Court bid to extend boy’s life support
2022/04/04
Mexico high court OKs preference for state power plants
2021/06/11
Court: Local Wisconsin heath departments can’t close schools
2021/05/19
Brazil police probe environment minister over timber exports
2021/04/23
COVID-19 concerns raised at St. Louis death penalty trial
2021/03/15
Man gets 5 years in prison for arson at Savannah city office
2020/12/08
Raimondo makes historic nomination to state Supreme Court
2020/11/21
Court: Tennessee can enforce Down syndrome abortion ban
2020/11/10
GOP tries again to get high court to ax health care law
2020/10/29
Supreme Court leaves NC absentee ballot deadline at Nov. 12
2020/10/27
High court won’t extend Wisconsin’s absentee ballot deadline
2020/10/11
Supreme Court pick Barrett draws on faith, family for Senate
2020/10/05
High Court Won't Take up Ex-Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis' Case
2020/09/26
Court allows public nuisance suits against 3 Alabama casinos
2020/09/23
Senate GOP plans vote on Trump’s court pick before election
2020/09/17
Flowers, homemade signs by high court in Ginsburg tribute
2020/09/16
'Hotel Rwanda' hero charged with terrorism in Rwanda court
2020/09/14
Court: Trump can end temporary legal status for 4 countries
2020/08/27
Thai court issues new arrest warrant for Red Bull scion
2020/08/15
Arizona landlords ask high court to invalidate eviction ban
2020/06/27
Appeals court orders dismissal of Michael Flynn prosecution
2020/06/15
Court rejects Trump bid to end young immigrants’ protections
2020/06/02
Court to hear arguments on Dayton gunman's school records
2020/05/11
Catholic schools, ex-teachers clash in Supreme Court case
2020/05/09
Blind justice: No visual cues in high court phone cases
2020/03/19
Court affirms conviction in hot-grease injuries to wife
2020/03/16
Court approves PG&E’s $23B bankruptcy financing package
2020/02/14
UK parents lose court appeal to keep baby on life support
2020/01/14
Court reverses $35M verdict against Jehovah’s Witnesses
2020/01/01
Cyprus court finds 19 year-old British woman guilty
2019/11/05
Supreme Court considering whether Trump must open tax returns
2019/09/23
Bulgarian court to eye revoking parole for Australian man
2019/07/20
High court rejects appeal of killer of 4 people in Omaha
2019/07/11
Court to Trump: Blocking Twitter critics is unconstitutional
2019/07/08
Fines, jail, probation, debt: Court policies punish the poor
2019/07/05
Court reviews judge who told woman to 'close your legs'
2019/04/27
Kansas court bolsters abortion rights, blocks ban
2019/04/01
Loughlin, Huffman due in court in college admissions scam
2019/03/13
Detained Saudi women's rights activists brought to court
2019/03/11
Governor says 'no executions' without court-backed drugs
2019/02/06
High court upholds texting suicide manslaughter conviction
2019/02/04
Appellate judge announces run for Supreme Court seat
2019/02/01
Federal court supports man's innocence claim in 1976 death
2019/01/12
California fight on Trump birth control rules goes to court
2019/01/08
Russian court says bobsledder can keep Olympic titles
2018/12/22
A Colorado man of missing Colorado woman in court
2018/12/16
Human rights court rules against Greece in Sharia law case
2018/12/09
Defamation lawsuit against activist continues in state court
2018/12/07
Man accused of killing tourist appears in New Zealand court
2018/12/01
Sri Lanka court orders prime minister to refrain from duties
2018/11/24
Russian court challenges International Olympic Committee
2018/11/21
Court: Reds exempt from tax on promotional bobbleheads
2018/11/16
Lawyer for WikiLeaks’ Assange says he would fight charges
2018/11/14
European court: Russia's arrests of Navalny were political
2018/11/07
Ginsburg, 85, hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall
2018/11/02
Supreme Court agrees to hear Maryland cross memorial case
2018/10/23
Virginia top court to hear 'unrestorably incompetent' case
2018/10/13
New campaign seeks support for expanded Supreme Court
2018/09/17
Sotomayor tells kids: Reading helped me reach Supreme Court
2018/09/13
EU backs ICC after US questions court's legitimacy
2018/08/26
Cities vying for 2020 convention court Democrats in Chicago
2018/07/14
Suspect in 1988 killing of Indiana girl, 8, appears in court
2018/06/18
Court makes no ruling in resolving partisan redistricting cases
2018/06/07
Detroit-area couple in court over control of frozen embryos
2018/04/14
Supreme Court again refuses to hear Blagojevich appeal
2018/04/07
Ohio court to decide if ex-player can sue over concussions
2018/04/02
Court: Government can't block immigrant teens from abortion
2018/03/23
Arkansas wants court to dissolve stay for death row prisoner
2018/01/21
Supreme Court: Water rule suits should begin in trial courts
2017/12/28
Ohio court indefinitely suspends law license of ex-judge
2017/12/21
Court convicts British woman of smuggling powerful painkillers
2017/11/16
German Court: Kuwait Airways Can Refuse Israeli Passengers
2017/11/15
Free Speech Is Starting to Dominate the US Supreme Court's Agenda
2017/11/12
Feds head to court to seek dismissal of Twin Metals lawsuit
2017/06/28
Case of gay couple's wedding cake heads to Supreme Court
2017/06/25
Supreme Court limits ability to strip citizenship
2017/06/19
Court: 'JudgeCutie' nickname doesn't ruffle judicial dignity
2017/06/04
Court sides with towns over utilities in tax dispute
2017/06/02
Trump admin asks Supreme Court to restore travel ban
2017/05/17
Court likely to question if Trump's travel ban discriminates
2017/05/08
Trump tabs Minnesota Justice Stras for federal appeals court
2017/03/05
Oklahoma tribe sues oil companies in tribal court over quake
2017/02/23
Court: Florida Docs Allowed to Ask Patients About Guns
2016/11/18
Supreme Court stays execution of Alabama inmate
2016/11/01
Supreme Court won't hear challenge to FBI fitness test
2016/10/16
Court hearing on potential Ontario ban of Indians name, logo
2016/10/14
Rights group criticizes Polish law of weakening top court
2016/10/12
Iraq's federal court rules against prime minister's reforms
2016/10/02
Appeals court rules against Kansas in voting rights case
2016/09/12
Court rejects challenge to Michigan's emergency manager law
2016/07/06
Court orders release of Chicago police disciplinary records
2016/07/05
Obama rebukes Poland over paralysis of constitutional court
2016/06/14
Court upholds net neutrality rules on equal internet access
2016/05/04
High court seems poised to overturn McDonnell conviction
2016/02/06
NY court agrees to rehear Ex-Goldman board member's appeal
2015/12/22
ACLU to appeal court ruling in Missouri drug testing case
2015/09/01
Burkina Faso court rejects candidate of former ruling party
2015/08/07
Court: Lawsuit over Arkansas killing by cop may proceed
2015/07/18
Court Halts Execution Of Tyler Woman's Killer
2015/07/09
Appeals court upholds parts of Arizona ethnic studies ban
2015/07/03
Oklahoma court to look at blocking Tulsa grand jury probe
2013/03/24
Court considers Calif. prison mental health care
2012/12/20
Bernard Madoff brother to face victims in NY court
2012/08/31
Ohio man pleads not guilty to Pitt threat charges
2012/01/08
Justices criticize EPA's dealings with homeowners
2011/11/04
Court tosses $43M award against Ford in crash case
2011/10/24
Scott+Scott LLP Announces Securities Class Action Lawsuit
2011/05/25
"The Death and Life of American Journalism" by Robert Mc Chesney
2010/09/22
Penny Stock Risks – Caveat Emptor
2008/12/17
Ill. gov's legal woes worsen as fundraisers defect
2008/10/29
DA: Criminal charges possible in boy's Uzi death
2008/03/06
High Profile Local Law Firms Merge
2008/03/05
Civil Rights & the Hawthorne Police Dept & The LAPD
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‘Ketamine Queen’ pleads guilty to selling fatal dose to Matthew Perry
Legal Interview |
2025/09/01 12:53
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A woman branded as the “Ketamine Queen” pleaded guilty Wednesday to selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him, becoming the fifth and final defendant charged in Perry’s overdose death to admit guilt.
Jasveen Sangha pleaded guilty to five federal charges, including providing the ketamine that led to Perry’s death. Her trial had been planned to start later this month.
Perry’s mother, Suzanne Perry, and his stepfather, “Dateline” reporter Keith Morrison, sat in the audience. It was their first time attending court proceedings since the announcement of the indictments one year ago.
Wearing tan jail garb, Sangha stood in court Wednesday next to her attorney Mark Geragos as she repeated “guilty” five times when U.S. District Court Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett asked for her pleas.
Before that, she answered “yes, your honor” to dozens of procedural questions, hedging slightly when the judge asked if she knew the drugs she was giving to co-defendant and middleman Erik Fleming were going to Perry.
“There was no way I could tell 100%,” she said. She later added, to a similar question on vials of ketamine she gave to Fleming, that “I didn’t know if all of them or some of them” were bound for Perry. The comments didn’t affect her plea agreement.
Prosecutors had cast Sangha, a 42-year-old citizen of the U.S. and the U.K., as a prolific drug dealer who was known to her customers as the “Ketamine Queen,” using the term often in press releases and court documents.
Making good on a deal she signed on Aug. 18, Sangha pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
“She feels horrible about all of this. Nobody wants to be in the chain of causation for lack of a better term,” Geragos said outside the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. “She feels horrible and she’s felt horrible since day one.”
Sangha admitted to selling drugs directly to 33-year-old Cody McLaury, who died from an overdose in 2019. McLaury had no connection to Perry.
Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts.
Geragos, whose other clients have included Michael Jackson, Chris Brown and the Menendez brothers, told the judge that the deal was reached “after a robust back-and-forth with the government.”
The final plea deal came a year after federal prosecutors announced the indictments in Perry’s Oct. 28, 2023 death after a sweeping investigation.
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US deportation flights hit record highs as carriers try to hide the planes
Legal Interview |
2025/08/27 12:54
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Immigration advocates gather like clockwork outside Seattle’s King County International Airport to witness deportation flights and spread word of where they are going and how many people are aboard. Until recently, they could keep track of the flights using publicly accessible websites.
But the monitors and others say airlines are now using dummy call signs for deportation flights and are blocking the planes’ tail numbers from tracking websites, even as the number of deportation flights hits record highs under President Donald Trump. The changes forced them to find other ways to follow the flights, including by sharing information with other groups and using data from an open-source exchange that tracks aircraft transmissions.
Their work helps people locate loved ones who are deported in the absence of information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which rarely discloses flights. News organizations have used such flight tracking in reporting.
Tom Cartwright, a retired J.P. Morgan financial officer turned immigration advocate, tracked 1,214 deportation-related flights in July — the highest level since he started watching in January 2020. About 80% are operated by three airlines: GlobalX, Eastern Air Express and Avelo Airlines. They carry immigrants to other airports to be transferred to overseas flights or take them across the border, mostly to Central American countries and Mexico.
Cartwright tracked 5,962 flights from the start of Trump’s second term through July, a 41% increase from 1,721 over the same period in 2024. Those figures including information from major deportation airports but not smaller ones like King County International Airport, also known as Boeing Field. Cartwright’s figures include 68 military deportation flights since January — 18 in July alone. Most have gone to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The work became so demanding that Cartwright, 71, and his group, Witness at the Border, turned over the job this month to Human Rights First, which dubbed its project “ICE Flight Monitor.”
“His work brings essential transparency to U.S. government actions impacting thousands of lives and stands as a powerful example of citizen-driven accountability in defense of human rights and democracy,” Uzrz Zeya, Human Rights First’s chief executive officer, said.
The airlines did not respond to multiple email requests for comment. ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which would not confirm any security measures it has taken.
La Resistencia, a Seattle-area nonprofit immigration rights group, has monitored 59 flights at Boeing Field and five at the Yakima airport in 2025, surpassing its 2024 total of 42.
Not all are deportation flights. Many are headed to or from immigration detention centers or to airports near the border. La Resistencia counted 1,023 immigrants brought in to go to the ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, and 2,279 flown out, often to states on the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Victims feeling exhausted and anxious about wrangling over Epstein files
Legal Interview |
2025/08/04 06:26
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Women who say they were abused by Jeffrey Epstein are feeling skeptical and anxious about the Justice Department’s handling of records related to the convicted sex offender, with some backing more public disclosures as an overdue measure of transparency, and others expressing concerns about their privacy and the Trump administration’s motivations.
In letters addressed to federal judges in New York this week, several victims or their attorneys said they would support the public release of grand jury testimony that led to criminal indictments against Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell — if the government agreed to allow them to review the material and redact sensitive information.
The Justice Department has asked the court to take the rare step of unsealing transcripts of that secret testimony, in part to placate people who believe that the government has hidden some things it knows about Epstein’s wrongdoing.
Other victims, meanwhile, accused President Donald Trump of sidelining victims as he seeks to shift the focus from Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he habitually sexually abused underage girls. Some expressed concern that the administration — in its eagerness to make the scandal go away — might give Maxwell clemency, immunity from future prosecution or better living conditions in prison as part of a deal to get her to testify before Congress.
“I am not some pawn in your political warfare,” one alleged victim wrote in a letter submitted to the court by her lawyer this week. “What you have done and continue to do is eating at me day after day as you help to perpetuate this story indefinitely.”
Added another victim, in a letter submitted anonymously on Wednesday: “This is all very exhausting.”
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. A top Justice Department official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, interviewed Maxwell for nine hours late last month, saying he wanted to hear anything she had to say about misdeeds committed by Epstein or others. After that interview, Maxwell was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a low-security prison camp in Texas.
Alicia Arden, who said Epstein sexually assaulted her in the late 1990s, held a news conference on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She said she would support the release of additional material related to the case, including a transcript of Maxwell’s interview with Blanche.
But she also expressed outrage at the possibility that Maxwell could receive clemency or other special treatment through the process, adding that the Justice Department’s approach had been “very upsetting” so far.
The Trump administration has faced weeks of furor from some segments of the president’s political base, which have demanded public disclosure of files related to Epstein. Epstein has long been the subject of conspiracy theories because of his friendships with the rich and powerful, including Trump himself, Britain’s Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton.
Last month, the Justice Department announced it would not release additional files related to the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
Prosecutors later asked to unseal the grand jury transcripts, though they’ve told the court they contain little information that hasn’t already been made public. Two judges who will decide whether to release the transcripts then asked victims to share their views on the matter.
In a letter submitted to the court Tuesday, attorneys Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, who represent numerous Epstein victims, wrote: “For survivors who bravely testified, the perception that Ms. Maxwell is being legitimized in public discourse has already resulted in re-traumatization.”
An attorney for Maxwell, David Oscar Markus, said this week that she opposed the release of the grand jury transcripts.
“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,” he wrote. “Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.”
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on the victims’ statements. |
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Trump formally asks Congress to claw back approved spending targeted by DOGE
Legal Interview |
2025/06/02 11:44
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The White House on Tuesday officially asked Congress to claw back $9.4 billion in already approved spending, taking funding away from programs targeted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
It’s a process known as “rescission,” which requires President Donald Trump to get approval from Congress to return money that had previously been appropriated. Trump’s aides say the funding cuts target programs that promote liberal ideologies.
The request, if it passes the House and Senate, would formally enshrine many of the spending cuts and freezes sought by DOGE. It comes at a time when Musk is extremely unhappy with the tax cut and spending plan making its way through Congress, calling it on Tuesday a “disgusting abomination” for increasing the federal deficit.
White House budget director Russ Vought said more rescission packages and other efforts to cut spending could follow if the current effort succeeds.
“We are certainly willing and able to send up additional packages if the congressional will is there,” Vought told reporters.
Here’s what to know about the rescissions request:
Will the rescissions make a dent in the national debt?
The request to Congress is unlikely to meaningfully change the troublesome increase in the U.S. national debt. Tax revenues have been insufficient to cover the growing costs of Social Security, Medicare and other programs. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the government is on track to spend roughly $7 trillion this year, with the rescission request equaling just 0.1% of that total.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing that Vought — a “well-respected fiscal hawk,” she called him — would continue to cut spending, hinting that there could be additional efforts to return funds.
“He has tools at his disposal to produce even more savings,” Leavitt said.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, among the chamber’s most conservative lawmakers, said they would like to see additional rescission packages from the administration.
“We will support as many more rescissions packages the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months,” the group said in a press release. “Passing this rescissions package will be an important demonstration of Congress’s willingness to deliver on DOGE and the Trump agenda.”
Sen. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, gave the package a less optimistic greeting.
“Despite this fast track, the Senate Appropriations Committee will carefully review the rescissions package and examine the potential consequences of these rescissions on global health, national security, emergency communications in rural communities, and public radio and television stations,” the Maine lawmaker said in a statement.
Vought said he can send up additional rescissions at the end of the fiscal year in September “and if Congress does not act on it, that funding expires.”
“It’s one of the reasons why we are not putting all of our expectations in a typical rescissions process,” he added.
What programs are targeted by the rescissions?
A spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview some of the items that would lose funding, said that $8.3 billion was being cut from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. NPR and PBS would also lose federal funding, as would the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR.
The spokesperson listed specific programs that the Trump administration considered wasteful, including $750,000 to reduce xenophobia in Venezuela, $67,000 for feeding insect powder to children in Madagascar and $3 million for circumcision, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia.
Is the rescissions package likely to get passed?
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., complimented the planned cuts and pledged to pass them.
“This rescissions package reflects many of DOGE’s findings and is one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity,” Johnson said. “Congress will continue working closely with the White House to codify these recommendations, and the House will bring the package to the floor as quickly as possible.”
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, among the chamber’s most conservative lawmakers, said they would like to see additional rescission packages from the administration.
“We will support as many more rescissions packages the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months,” the group said in a press release. “Passing this rescissions package will be an important demonstration of Congress’s willingness to deliver on DOGE and the Trump agenda.”
Sen. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, gave the package a less optimistic greeting.
“Despite this fast track, the Senate Appropriations Committee will carefully review the rescissions package and examine the potential consequences of these rescissions on global health, national security, emergency communications in rural communities, and public radio and television stations,” the Maine lawmaker said in a statement.
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Cuban exiles were shielded from deportation. Now Trump is cracking down
Legal Interview |
2025/05/25 07:42
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Immigration officials said Tomás Hernández worked in high-level posts for Cuba’s foreign intelligence agency for decades before migrating to the United States to pursue the American dream.
The 71-year-old was detained by federal agents outside his Miami-area home in March and accused of hiding his ties to Cuba’s Communist Party when he obtained permanent residency.
Cuban-Americans in South Florida have long clamored for a firmer hand with Havana and the recent apprehensions of Hernández and several other former Cuban officials for deportation have been extremely popular among the politically powerful exile community.
“It’s a political gift to Cuban-American hardliners,” said Eduardo Gamarra, a Latin American expert at Florida International University. But many Cubans fear they could be next on Trump’s list, he said, and “some in the community see it as a betrayal.”
While President Donald Trump’s mass deportation pledge has frightened migrants from many nations, it has come as something of a shock to the 2.4 million Cuban-Americans, who strongly backed the Republican twice and have long enjoyed a place of privilege in the U.S. immigration system.
Amid record arrivals of migrants from the Caribbean island, Trump in March revoked temporary humanitarian parole for about 300,000 Cubans. Many have been detained ahead of possible deportation.
Among those facing deportation is a pro-Trump Cuban rapper behind a hit song “Patria y Vida” — “Homeland and Life” — that became the unofficial anthem of anti-communist protests on the island in 2021 and drew praise from the likes of then Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State. Eliéxer Márquez, who raps under the name El Funky, said he received notice this month that he had 30 days to leave the U.S.
Thanks to Cold War laws aimed at removing Fidel Castro, Cuban migrants for many decades enjoyed almost automatic refugee status in the U.S. and could obtain green cards a year after entry, unlike migrants from virtually every other country.
Support for Trump among likely Cuban-American voters in Miami was at an all-time high on the eve of last year’s election, according to a poll by Florida International University, which has been tracking the Cuban-American community since 1991. Trump rarely mentions Cubans in his attacks on migrant targets including Venezuelans and Haitians. That has given many Cubans hope that they will remain immune to immigration enforcement actions.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been trying to turn the immigration crackdown to their advantage. In April, grassroots groups erected two giant billboards on Miami highways calling Rubio and Republican Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez “traitors” to the Cuban-American community for failing to protect tens of thousands of migrants from Trump’s immigration policies.
In March, Giménez sent Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a letter with the names of 108 people he said were former Cuban state agents or Communist Party officials living unlawfully in the U.S.
“It is imperative that the Department of Homeland Security enforce existing U.S. laws to identify, deport and repatriate these individuals who pose a direct threat to our national security, the integrity of our immigration system and the safety of Cuban exiles and American citizens alike,” Giménez wrote, adding that the U.S. remains a “beacon of hope and freedom for those escaping tyranny.”
Giménez’s target list was compiled by Luis Dominguez, who left Cuba in 1971 and has made it his mission to topple Cuba’s government. In 2009, when the internet was still a novelty in Cuba, Dominguez said he posed as a 27-year-old female sports journalist from Colombia to lure Castro’s son Antonio into an online romance.
With support from the right-wing Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, he started combing social media and relying on a well-oiled network of anti-socialist sources, inside Cuba and outside the country, to dox officials allegedly behind human rights abuses and violations of democratic norms. To date, his website, Represores Cubanos — Cuban Repressors — has identified more than 1,200 such state agents, some 150 in the United States.
“They’re chasing the American dream, but previously they condemned it while pursuing the Cuban dream,” Dominguez said. “It’s the typical double life of any Communist regime. When they were in power they criticized anything about the U.S. But now that they’re here, they love it.”
Dominguez, 62, said he regularly shares his findings with federal law enforcement but a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t comment on the agency’s relationship with the activist.
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