The Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor on April 03, 2025, in New York City. Markets worldwide have plunged following President Donald Trump’s latest announcement on tariffs. In a move that has caused controversy among both Republicans and Democrats, Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on major U.S. trade partners. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As President Donald Trump calls for military intervention in cities across the nation, gun violence and major crime are at a record low in America’s largest city, the New York Police Department announced Wednesday.
There were fewer shootings in NYC during the first nine months of the year than in the same time period of any prior year, officials said in a press release sharing third-quarter crime data.
The record-low number of shootings coincided with a broader drop in crime, including in the subways, officials said.
“The NYPD’s precision policing has delivered record-low shooting incidents and victims over the last nine months, and the safest quarter ever on our subways,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.
“This is not a coincidence — it’s the result of an unprecedented, data-driven deployment of thousands of officers to the areas they are needed most,” Tisch said.
The NYPD’s announcement comes amid Trump’s crackdown on crime in major American cities, deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Portland, with plans to expand to more “one by one.”
During an address to several hundred of the nation’s top military commanders on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his attacks on Democratic-led cities, alleging domestic crime is a “war from within.”
“What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” the president said. “That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”
Breaking down the crime data from the first nine months of 2025, the NYPD reported that citywide shooting incidents are down more than 20% (553 vs. 693) to their lowest level ever, and down 15.6% (216 vs. 256) for the third quarter.
This drops marks the fewest shootings in any third quarter in recorded history, the department said, attributing it, in part, to nightly foot patrols in high-crime precincts, public housing projects and the subways.
Murders are down citywide by more than 17.7% (241 vs. 293) year-to-date and 17.5% (85 vs. 103) for the quarter, bringing them both to their second-lowest levels ever.
Burglaries dropped 3.8% (9,410 vs. 9,783) for the year and more than 9% (3,100 vs. 3,419) in the third quarter, the second-lowest level in recorded history.
Robberies declined 9.8% (11,402 vs. 12,639) year-to-date and more than 5% (4,166 vs. 4,396) for the quarter.
The NYPD also announced a 13% drop in rape, even after New York changed a state law to broaden the definition of rape and sexual assault in January 2024.
(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is opposing a prosecution request to allow his former assistant — who testified under the pseudonym “Mia” — to deliver a victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing on Friday.
“Simply, she is not a victim of anything,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a letter to the judge on Wednesday.
In July, a jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, and guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with another ex-girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
Federal prosecutors conceded that “Mia” — who testified about abuse she said she suffered while working as Combs’ assistant — is not a victim of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.
The defense called “Mia” a liar, saying she testified at trial “with a made up voice and demeanor” and now wants to “sully” the sentencing hearing.
“Moreover, that she is so eager to return to court, when she plainly does not have to, and is not even entitled to, puts her proffered fear of testifying at trial into clear relief. This was a show for her,” Agnifilo said.
While the music mogul was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, he was found not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge. He was also found not guilty of both charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with Ventura and “Jane.”
Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.
Federal prosecutors argue Combs deserves at least 11 years in prison, while Combs’ attorneys are seeking time served. Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.
The sentencing hearing comes after Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request to throw out his conviction on Tuesday, saying the defense arguments that prostitution requires a financial motive or participation in the sexual activity “don’t hold water.”
Here are some frequently asked questions about how a government shutdown impacts travel:
Will TSA work in a shutdown?
Transportation Security Administration workers at airport checkpoints will continue to work — without pay — during the shutdown.
According to Department of Homeland Security documents, 58,488 employees out of the total TSA workforce of 61,475 will be retained during a shutdown.
Will my flight get canceled?
No. Commercial flights will continue to operate and airline employees will not be impacted.
How will air traffic controllers be impacted?
Over 13,000 air traffic controllers will continue to work — without pay — during a shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation’s shutdown plan.
Air traffic controller hiring and training would continue during a shutdown, as would air traffic control modernization, according to the DOT’s shutdown plan.
During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, ATC training was stopped. NATCA, the union representing air traffic controllers, previously told ABC News that the shutdown in 2018-2019 “eroded critical layers of safety necessary to support and maintain the [national air space]. Many of the safety activities that proactively reduce risk and increase the safety of the system were suspended during that shutdown.”
What happened to air travel during the 2018-2019 shutdown?
During the 2018-2019 shutdown, which lasted for 35 days, TSA officers called out of work at an increased rate due to financial hardship, a TSA spokesperson told ABC News at the time. Those staffing shortages caused some TSA lines to close, which led to an increased wait time for passengers to get through security.
ABC News reported that air traffic controllers called out sick at the centers in New York, Washington, D.C., and Jacksonville, Florida, leading to a staffing-related ground stop at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and flight delays at some New York and Florida airports. Hours after flights were stopped, President Donald Trump ended the shutdown. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., credited the controllers with ending the shutdown, The New York Times reported.
What about train travel?
Amtrak said in a statement that its operations will continue as usual.
“Passengers planning to travel on Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor and across the country in the coming days and weeks can be assured that Amtrak will remain open for business,” Amtrak said.
A 13-year-old child with an 11-year-old in the passenger seat is accused of driving a stolen vehicle and crashing it while intoxicated in Flagstaff, Arizona. AZDPS Highway Patrol
(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.) — A 13-year-old girl drove drunk and crashed a stolen car while an 11-year-old was in the passenger seat, officials in Arizona said.
Both children were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the early Tuesday morning crash, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.
The joyride was reported around 1 a.m. in a car that had been stolen from the Flagstaff Police Department, DPS said.
The driver went the wrong way across the median on Interstate 40 near Flagstaff, and then self-corrected and drove off at over 100 mph, officials said.
The teenager then allegedly drove onto the guardrail, causing the car to roll over multiple times and crash into a tree, DPS said.
“The impact was so severe that the steering wheel broke off while the vehicle was rolling, and was ejected approximately 50 feet from where the vehicle landed,” the department said.
The 13-year-old’s blood alcohol concentration was recorded at 0.183, DPS said. In Arizona, drivers 21 and older can be charged with a DUI if their BAC is above .08%. Drivers under 21 must have a BAC of 0.00%.
The 13-year-old will face DUI charges, a DPS spokesperson told ABC News.
“We’re thankful the kids are okay, but this could’ve ended way worse,” DPS said in a statement. “Juvenile joyriding and underage drinking are extremely dangerous. Talk to your kids about the dangers of drinking and unlicensed driving.”
(NEW YORK) — Since the start of Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives in 1985, over 517,000 lives have been saved from better treatment and proactive screening, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Today is a day to celebrate forty years of incredible progress in ending cancer as we know it, for everyone,” Dr. Shanti Sivendran, senior vice president of cancer care support at the American Cancer Society and medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, told ABC News.
In the 1980s in the United States, only one in four women were getting screened for breast cancer, and access to screening technology was limited, Sivendran said.
That began to change in October 1985, when the American Cancer Society partnered with other groups to launch a week-long event devoted to raising awareness about breast cancer. The campaign quickly gained momentum as more organizations joined in, and by 1990 President George H. W. Bush issued a proclamation officially designating October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
What started as a small collaboration grew into a global movement, now marked each year by millions who wear pink ribbons, participate in walks, and push for advances in research and early detection.
“After 40 years of research, technology and policy advances, we are now seeing that two out of three women are getting life-saving mammograms that are covered by their insurance, and we’ve seen a 40% reduction in mortality from breast cancer, from diligent screening, [and] from treatment advances that allow for more tailored options for patients.” Sivendran noted.
The five-year survival rate for a woman diagnosed with breast cancer has jumped up from around 75% in the early 1980s, to over 90% in the past few years. Researchers estimate that advances in screening account for about one-quarter of the drop in breast cancer deaths, while improved treatments are responsible for the other three-quarters.
“There have been great strides in breast cancer treatments from less extensive breast surgery to more targeted radiation, and the explosion of new drugs that are more specific for the different subtypes of breast cancer.” Dr. Katherine Crew, breast medical oncologist and director of the clinical breast cancer prevention program at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, told ABC News.
Between 2000 and 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved more than two dozen drugs to treat breast cancer, many designed to target a specific biomarker in the tumor. Experts liken these markers to fingerprints that can help doctors match each patient with the treatment most likely to work for them, making care more precise and personalized than ever before.
But not everyone has benefited from these strides equally.
As Crew noted, “While we have made great progress in improving breast cancer screening and treatment leading to improved survival, there have also been widening disparities in breast cancer outcomes, with Black women having higher breast cancer mortality compared to their White counterparts.”
White women with breast cancer have the highest five-survival rate at around 93%. But this dropped to 84% for black women. While black women were more likely to die from any kind of breast cancer, for certain types of breast cancer black women had up to a 50% higher risk of dying than their white counterparts. While there are multiple factors behind these differences, Crew stressed the need to better address these health disparities.
Sivendran said the past 40 years of Breast Cancer Awareness show how a movement can save lives, but she stressed that the work is far from over and urged people to carry forward the progress made over the last four decades.
“Go out there and take action. Get your screening mammogram, understand your risk, invest in cancer research,” she said. “And together, we’re going to continue to make advances over the next 40 years.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in newly designed vehicles arrive ahead of a scheduled speech by U.S. President Donald Trump at the Park Police Anacostia Operating Facility on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration has deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to place the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — An Iowa superintendent who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week will resign, his attorney said Tuesday.
Ian Roberts, 54, announced his immediate resignation as superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools in a letter released through his attorney on Tuesday.
“Out of concern for his 30,000 students, Dr. Roberts does not want to distract the Board, educators, and staff from focusing on educating DMPS’s students,” the letter to the Des Moines School Board stated.
The letter will be sent to the board on Tuesday, according to Roberts’ attorney, Alfredo Parrish.
Roberts was detained on Friday, with ICE saying he is in the country illegally from Guyana and was working as a superintendent despite having “a final order of removal and no work authorization.”
On Monday, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts’ administrator license. The Des Moines School Board voted unanimously Monday evening to put him on unpaid administrative leave and gave his attorney until noon Tuesday to provide proof that he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination.
Parrish said his office on Monday filed a motion in immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska, to stay the educator’s order of removal.
“This is a very complex case,” Parrish said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “It’s complex, it’s difficult and there are a lot of what I would call a myriad of issues that are involved.”
“What I would do is encourage people, as they review this case, to be patient, to take it a step at a time,” he added.
Parrish also shared a letter with reporters purportedly sent from Roberts’ previous attorney in Texas in March, stating that his immigration case “has reached a successful resolution” and was closed. The letter did not contain any further details on the resolution.
Parrish said his office plans to file a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case on Tuesday.
Roberts entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999 and a judge gave him a “final order of removal” in May 2024, ICE said in a statement.
Roberts joined the Des Moines district in July 2023 and had previously held leadership positions in school districts across the U.S. for 20 years, according to school board chair Jackie Norris.
Norris said during Monday’s school board meeting that the board received documentation from the Department of Homeland Security that day indicating Roberts is an unauthorized worker in the U.S. It also received documentation of Roberts’ final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, she said.
The board was not aware of Roberts’ immigration issues at the time of his hiring, according to Norris, who said the board is taking ICE’s allegations “very seriously.”
“I want to be clear, at no point was any DMPS employee or board member notified that Dr. Roberts was not eligible to work by a federal agency or Dr. Roberts,” Norris said.
Norris said when Roberts applied for the superintendent position, he stated that he was a citizen and provided a driver’s license and a Social Security card as documentation. A law firm reviewed the information presented by Roberts and did not raise any concerns about his eligibility to work, she said.
Asked how Roberts had a social security number, Parrish said he didn’t want to respond, though went on to say, “As you may or may not know, certain people coming into this country are entitled to get a Social Security number.”
“That’s not our concern at the moment,” he added.
When Roberts was taken into custody on Friday, he was in possession of a loaded handgun and $3,000 in cash, ICE said.
Asked about the allegation of the loaded firearm, Parrish said he also could not comment on the facts of that, though he went on to say Roberts was in the military in Guyana and “led some of the most difficult raids on the biggest criminals.”
“In doing that type of work, he was a target, on some occasions, to be taken out by the cartel,” Parrish said.
According to the ICE detainee locator, Roberts is currently being held at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, Iowa. He is in “good spirits,” Parrish said.
“We want you to know that Dr. Roberts’ greatest concern is about his students who he actually loves, and the students who love him back,” Parrish said.
Meanwhile, Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn said Tuesday a “state-level investigation” into Roberts’ hiring is underway.
“Local leaders owe parents an explanation, and we need stronger safeguards to ensure that positions of public trust are filled by individuals who are properly vetted and legally authorized to serve,” he said in a statement.
The firm that performed the background check on Roberts prior to his hiring by Des Moines Public Schools told ABC News it was “not contracted to perform I-9 or work eligibility verification.”
“By standard practice, the employer is solely responsible for completing I-9 verification and determining employment eligibility,” Baker-Eubanks CEO Kim Cockerham said in a statement.
“We identified and disclosed all publicly available criminal records at that time, and those findings were provided to J.G. Consulting, the executive search firm, which then shared the information with its client, the Des Moines School District. The District ultimately chose to proceed with the hire despite having received the disclosed criminal record information,” Cockerham said.
Roberts has weapon possession charges from February 2020, according to ICE.
Prior to serving as superintendent in Des Moines, Roberts was superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania from August 2020 through June 2023.
The Millcreek Township School District said in a statement Monday that Roberts went through an FBI background check, completed I-9 eligibility forms and supplied documentation to support his eligibility to work. The district said it “never received any information or notification regarding the expiration of Dr. Roberts’ work authorization” and called reports of his detention “deeply concerning.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters march out of Tufts University’s Class of 2024 commencement. Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has found federal officials unconstitutionally violated the free speech rights of pro-Palestinian protesters in its effort to deport international students and scholars expressing pro-Palestinian views, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tuft’s University’s Rumeysa Ozturk.
“This Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with the subordinate officials and, agents of each of them, deliberately and with purposeful aforethought, did so concert their actions and those of their two departments intentionally to chill the rights to freedom of speech and peacefully to assemble of the non-citizen plaintiff members of the plaintiff associations,” U.S. District Court Judge William Young wrote in a decision Tuesday.
The decision came as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, which represents hundreds of professors and students across the country.
A bench trial was held in the case in July. In the course of the trial, it was revealed the government looked into more than 5,000 people named on the doxxing website Canary mission in its effort to revoke the visas of student protesters.
Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said Rubio and Noem used the attempted deportation of some pro-Palestinian protesters to create a chilling effect that would discourage others from participating in protests.
“It was never the Secretaries’ immediate intention to deport all pro-Palestinian non-citizens for that obvious First Amendment violation, that could have raised a major outcry,” Young wrote in the order. “Rather, the intent of the Secretaries was more invidious — to target a few for speaking out and then use the full rigor of the Immigration and Nationality Act (in ways it had never been used before) to have them publicly deported with the goal of tamping down pro-Palestinian student protests and terrorizing similarly situated non-citizen (and other) pro-Palestinians into silence because their views were unwelcome.”
Young said President Donald Trump’s support of this effort violates his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution,” though he is immune from any consequences for this conduct per the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The Secretaries have succeeded, apparently well beyond their immediate intentions. One may speculate that they acted under instructions from the White House, but speculation is not evidence and this Court does not so find,” Young wrote.
“What is clear, however, is that the President may not have authorized this operation (or even known about it), but once it was in play the President wholeheartedly supported it, making many individual case specific comments (some quite cruel) that demonstrate he has been fully briefed,” Young said.
While Young wrote that he found clear and convincing evidence of constitutional violations, he does not expect a correction from authorities or public outcry.
“The President in recent months has strikingly unapologetically increased his attack on First Amendment values, balked here and there by District Court orders,” Young said.
Mohsen Mahdawi speaks to a Globe reporter in Fairlee, Vermont, May 7, 2025. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court in New York will hear oral arguments Tuesday in cases involving two graduate students who claim they were unlawfully detained earlier this year by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism.
The detention in March of Tufts doctoral candidate Rumeysa Ozturk was captured on a video that depicted a man in a hoodie stopping her on a street in Somerville, Massachusetts. Men and women in masks approached her and she was heard screaming as she was taken into custody.
Her attorneys said Ozturk, a Turkish national, spent six weeks in detention for writing an op-ed in her student newspaper the year before that criticized the university’s rejection of student government resolutions concerning Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. They called it “a shocking violation of the First Amendment.”
The federal government is appealing a lower court decision granting Ozturk release on bail while her immigration case is pending. Her attorneys urged a three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals to reject it.
“Ms. Öztürk is now free, back living and studying in Massachusetts,” her attorneys said. “Respondents did something they had no power at all to do: unconstitutionally detain her to retaliate against and punish her for her speech in support of Palestinian human rights.”
The government is also challenging Mohsen Mahdawi’s release on bail.
Mahdawi, who was detained in April after completing his naturalization interview, had been outspoken on the Columbia University campus in opposition to the war in Gaza.
In both cases, the government argued that no federal court can hear a habeas challenge until the administrative immigration review process runs its course.
Mahdawi’s attorneys, and Ozturk’s attorneys, argued nothing in federal law allows for indefinitely detaining noncitizens before they can appeal the constitutionality of their detention.
“Any other conclusion would give the executive branch a powerful tool of unchecked censorship — the ability to detain noncitizens as punishment for their political viewpoints, thereby chilling the speech of untold others for as long as the government takes to administer its executive branch immigration procedures,” Mahdawi’s lawyers argued.
The entrance to a U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) detention facility is seen following a shooting, on September 25, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Miguel Ángel García-Hernández, 32, was gravely wounded in Wednesday’s shooting and has now died from his injuries after being removed from life support, LULAC said.
“Miguel was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family,” his wife, Stephany Gauffeny, said in a statement released by LULAC.
“His death is a senseless tragedy that has left our family shattered,” she said. “I do not know how to explain to our children that their father is gone.”
The other victim killed in the shooting, Norlan Guzmán-Fuentes, 37, had been pronounced dead shortly after the incident, LULAC said.
The shooting unfolded on Wednesday morning when a sniper opened fire “indiscriminately” at the ICE building and an ICE van, striking three detainees, authorities said.
The suspect, Joshua Jahn — who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the shooting — was allegedly targeting ICE agents, not detainees, officials said, citing notes the suspect left behind.
“It seems that he did not intend to kill the detainees or harm them. It’s clear from these notes that he was targeting ICE agents and ICE personnel,” said Nancy E. Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, calling it “tragic irony” that detainees, not agents, were shot.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said he would put all ICE facilities on a higher alert in the wake of the shooting.
ABC News’ Luke Barr and Deena Zaru Pettiford contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — Federal charges have been filed against four individuals involved in the anti-ICE protests in Chicago over the weekend, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.
The four defendants are being charged with assaulting and resisting officers outside the Broadview ICE facility during the multi-day protest on Saturday.
Paul Ivery, one of the individuals charged, allegedly showed his middle finger to federal agents at the protest before saying, “I’ll f—— kill you right now” and jumping on a car, causing damage to the vehicle, and fighting with a Homeland Security agent, according to the court filings.
Hubert Mazur, Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo were also detained at the protests after engaging in physical altercations with federal officers, according to the court documents. Collins and Robledo were in possession of semiautomatic pistols at the protest but had lawful permits to carry the firearms, according to court documents.
ICE posted on X about Collins and Robledo’s arrests Monday afternoon, sharing photos of the couple and their firearms, writing “they will be prosecuted and held accountable.”
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said federal officers used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and flash-bang devices on protesters, journalists and bystanders in Broadview. The Trump administration is attempting to destabilize Chicago, he said.
“This is not about fighting crime or about public safety. This is about sowing fear and intimidation and division among Americans. It was about creating a pretext to send armed military troops into our communities. This is about consolidating power in Donald Trump’s hands,” Pritzker said.
ABC News has reached out to the Trump administration for a comment.
A group of Chicago community groups held another news conference Sunday, lambasting ICE’s activities and increased presence in the city.
Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who represents part of Chicago in Congress, criticized ICE’s efforts to detain immigrants in the city.
“Today we witness the further militarization of ICE tactics in Chicago as they showed up downtown to indiscriminately continue to profile against people just because of what they look like,” Garcia said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson posted on X Sunday afternoon, saying, “This is another brazen provocation from the Trump administration that does nothing to make our city safer.”
