Border Patrol Chief: sexist Facebook posts ‘inappropriate’
CLINT, Texas — The head of the U.S. Border Patrol on Monday slammed as “completely inappropriate” sexually explicit posts about U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and comments questioning the authenticity of a photo of a drowned man and his young daughter in a secret Facebook group for agents.
The existence of the group was reported by ProPublica as roughly a dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Democrats Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Veronica Escobar of Texas, toured border facilities where attorneys said they had found migrant children living in fetid, filthy conditions.
Some of the posts were graphic, doctored images of Ocasio-Cortez; including one that shows a smiling President Donald Trump forcing her head toward his crotch. Other comments refer to Ocasio-Cortez and Escobar as “hoes,” and one member encouraged agents to throw a “burrito at these bitches.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she wasn’t surprised by the posts, especially after the treatment of migrants she said she witnessed at the facility.
“It’s just indicative of the violent culture that we saw,” she said.
Iran breaches uranium stockpile limit set by nuclear deal
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has broken the limit set on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, international inspectors and Tehran said Monday, marking its first major departure from the unraveling agreement a year after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the accord.
The announcement by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and later confirmation by the U.N. nuclear watchdog puts new pressure on European nations trying to save the deal amid President Donald Trump’s maximalist campaign targeting Tehran. Iran separately threatened to raise its uranium enrichment closer to weapons-grade levels on July 7 if Europe fails to offer it a new deal.
It also further heightens tensions across the wider Middle East in the wake of Iran recently shooting down a U.S. military surveillance drone, mysterious attacks on oil tankers that America and the Israelis blame on Tehran, and bomb-laden drone assaults by Yemen’s Iranian-backed rebels targeting Saudi Arabia.
The European Union urged Iran to reverse course and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the action “a significant step toward making a nuclear weapon.” Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, despite Western fears about it.
At the White House, Trump told reporters Iran was “playing with fire,” and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the international community to require Iran to suspend all enrichment, even at levels allowed under the nuclear deal.
Riot police clear away protests from Hong Kong legislature
HONG KONG — Hundreds of protesters swarmed into Hong Kong’s legislature Monday night, defacing portraits of lawmakers and spray-painting pro-democracy slogans in the chamber before vacating it as riot police cleared surrounding streets with tear gas and then moved inside.
The three-hour occupation, which ended early Tuesday, came on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China, a city holiday, and reflected mounting frustration with Hong Kong’s leader for not responding to protesters’ demands after several weeks of demonstrations. The protests were sparked by a government attempt to change extradition laws to allow suspects to be sent to China for trial.
Protesters whacked away at thick glass windows until they shattered and then pried open steel security gates. Police initially retreated as the protesters entered, avoiding a confrontation and giving them the run of the building.
Demonstrators stood on lawmakers’ desks and painted over the territory’s emblem on a wall. The crowd also wrote slogans calling for a democratic election of the city’s leader and denouncing the extradition legislation. Many wore yellow and white helmets, face masks and the black T-shirts that have become their uniform.
Police then announced that they would soon move in. A spokesman had earlier broadcast a warning that “appropriate force” would be used. Officers approached shortly after midnight and entered the legislative chambers after protesters had already left. There was no immediate word on any arrests or injuries.
AP Analysis: Trump smiles with North Korea, threatens Iran
WASHINGTON — With North Korea, President Donald Trump puts on the charm. But with Iran, he cranks up the pressure with economic sanctions and a stronger military presence in the Persian Gulf. He warned its leaders Monday they are “playing with fire.”
Nuclear weapons are at the heart of the difficult U.S. relations with both Pyongyang and Tehran. But it’s in North Korea where Trump has more leeway — and perhaps a greater chance of striking a deal.
Kim Jong Un has seemed as willing to meet with Trump as the U.S. president has been to talk and shake hands for the cameras with him. The North Korean leader jumped at the chance to meet Trump at the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas last weekend.
Trump has made repeated overtures to Iranian leaders, too, but without the same results.
“I think Trump would be equally on a charm offensive with the Iranians if he had a dance partner,” said Mark Dubowitz, an Iran nuclear deal skeptic with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Girl recalls poor care in Texas border station
For almost two weeks, a 12-year-old migrant girl said she and her 6-year-old sister were held inside a Border Patrol station in Texas where they slept on the floor and some children were locked away when they cried for their parents.
She was one of hundreds of migrant children who have been held this year in holding cells at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection station near El Paso that has come under fire for holding children in squalid and unsanitary conditions.
In a video obtained by The Associated Press, the girl — speaking in Spanish — tells her Minnesota-based attorney Alison Griffith children were “treated badly” and were not allowed to play or bathe. The girl’s face is not visible on the video to protect her privacy and not jeopardize her immigration case.
El Paso, Texas, attorney Taylor Levy, who worked with the girl’s family, said she and her sister were separated from their aunt when they arrived in the U.S. on May 23. The children, from Central America, were put in the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, Levy said. Their aunt is still being detained.
Levy said the girls’ mother fled an abusive husband and arrived in the U.S. four years ago. She has applied for asylum. The girls stayed behind with their aunt, but the three headed north in May after the girls’ father threatened them, Levy said.
Trump isn’t taking ‘no tanks’ for an answer for July Fourth
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump isn’t taking “no tanks” for an answer on the Fourth of July.
He said Monday that a display of U.S. military tanks will be part of a special event he’s headlining July 4 in Washington — and an Associated Press photographer saw at least two M1A1 Abrams tanks and four other military vehicles on a flatcar in a railyard at the southeastern edge of Washington.
Military police were guarding the vehicles, which were visible to passersby on nearby paths.
Trump had wanted a military parade of tanks and other equipment in the District of Columbia after he witnessed a similar parade on Bastille Day in Paris in 2017. That plan eventually was scuttled, partly because of cost, though Trump apparently held on to the idea.
Local officials had also objected because of the damage the heavy armored tanks could do to city streets.
Father of 2, deported to El Salvador, allowed return to US
HOUSTON — A 33-year-old father of two American-born children was allowed to return to the U.S. on Monday, two years after being deported to El Salvador during the first months of the Trump administration.
Jose Escobar was welcomed at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport by a group of supporters. He was accompanied by his wife, Rose, and their two children, Walter and Carmen, who had flown to El Salvador in June to visit him. They were in El Salvador when they got word that U.S. immigration authorities had approved waivers that would allow him to return to the U.S. legally.
Escobar was a teenager when his family settled in the U.S. in 2001 with temporary protected status, which was granted to Salvadorans who were victims of earthquakes that year. He married his wife Rose in 2006, the same year he learned that his family hadn’t filed the paperwork necessary for him to renew his visa.
He was living in the U.S. without authorization, and an immigration judge ordered his deportation that year. Rose and his children are all U.S. citizens.
Escobar was arrested in 2011 — during the administration of former President Barack Obama — and detained for several months. After an intense lobbying campaign, the local field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Escobar in January 2012 “so he could get his affairs in order,” the agency said last year.
Trump lashes out at New York governor, attorney general
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump lashed out at New York’s governor and attorney general Monday, accusing the Democrats of going after him in a “political Witch Hunt.”
In four tweets, Trump accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Letitia James of “harassing all of my New York businesses in search of anything at all they can find to make me look as bad as possible.”
“It is very hard and expensive to live in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo uses his Attorney General as a bludgeoning tool for his own purposes. They sue on everything, always in search of a crime,” Trump said. “So, on top of ridiculously high taxes, my children and companies are spending a fortune on lawyers. No wonder people and businesses are fleeing New York in record numbers!”
It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the barrage, which came the day after Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea.
A James predecessor, Eric Schneiderman, sued the Trump Foundation a year ago last month, alleging it was improperly involved in the president’s political campaign and private business affairs. Her office has continued that suit.
Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs dead at 27; found in hotel room
ARLINGTON, Texas — Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died Monday at the age of 27, stunning Major League Baseball and leading to the postponement of the team’s game against the Texas Rangers.
Skaggs was with the team in Texas when he was found unresponsive in his hotel room, police said . He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they were investigating, but no foul play was suspected.
Skaggs was “an important part of the Angels Family,” the team said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Carli, and his entire family during this devastating time.”
Skaggs, who would have turned 28 on July 13 and was married just seven months ago, had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016, when he returned from Tommy John surgery. He struggled with injuries repeatedly over the past three seasons but persevered to become a valuable starter in Los Angeles’ injury-plagued rotation.
The left-hander had just pitched on Saturday, allowing two runs in 4 1/3 innings in a 4-0 loss to Oakland. He was scheduled to start the series finale at Texas, on the Fourth of July holiday.
Gauff, just 15, shocks 5-time champ Venus, 39, at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England — Coco Gauff grew up admiring the Williams sisters. Picked up a tennis racket as a little girl because of them. And on Monday at Wimbledon, still just 15, Gauff beat one of them.
Gauff, the youngest competitor to qualify at the All England Club in the professional era, showed the poise and power of a much older, much more experienced player, pulling off a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the first round over Venus Williams, who at 39 was the oldest woman in the field.
When it ended, Gauff dropped her racket and put her hands on her head. After a handshake and exchange of words at the net with Williams, Gauff knelt by her sideline chair and tears welled in her eyes. Up in the stands, her father leaped out of his seat.
“Honestly, I don’t really know how to feel. This is the first time I ever cried after a match. Or winning, obviously; I’ve cried after a loss before,” said Gauff, who is based in Florida. “I don’t even know how to explain how I feel.”
This was her third tour-level match; Williams has played more than 1,000. This was Gauff’s first match at Wimbledon, where Williams has played more than 100 and won five titles. By the time Gauff was born in 2004, Williams already had spent time at No. 1 in the rankings and owned four of her seven Grand Slam singles trophies.