(NEW YORK) — A woman who had been sought in connection with the death of her husband, a Massachusetts police officer, is believed to have been found dead, police said Monday, calling the case a “tragic murder-suicide.”
A search had been ongoing for Karen Solomon, 58, after her husband — 57-year-old Worcester Police Department Patrolman Kurt Solomon — was found dead in a home last week.
This is a developing story.
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(RENO, Nev.) — An out-of-control brush fire that ignited over the weekend in the hills in Northern Nevada near Reno has grown to more than 15,000 acres, prompting a massive evacuation of 42,000 people, authorities said on Monday.
A preliminary investigation has found that the Hawk Fire was human-caused, authorities said. They did not immediately release details on whether the blaze was intentionally or accidentally set.
“We do know it was human-caused because there were no natural ignition sources that were present in that area,” Chief Richard Edwards of the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District said at a news conference on Sunday.
About 90,000 people have been affected by the wildfire, including 42,000 who have been forced to evacuate their homes and another 45,000 people who have been warned to be prepared to evacuate, officials said.
About 14,000 homes are in the evacuation area and authorities confirmed that some residences have been destroyed.
The fire remained 0% contained after burning 15,051 acres, Nevada fire officials said in an update on Monday morning.
Officials reported some good news on Monday, saying firefighters made progress overnight in battling the blaze “despite extreme fire behavior observed during the incident.”
“Hot, dry and breezy conditions are expected to continue supporting active fire behavior over the next 48 hours. The fire has the potential to spread northeast and northwest, and conditions remain dynamic and subject to rapid change,” fire officials said in the update.
About 1,000 firefighters and other first responders are battling the fire from the ground and air, officials said.
At least three civilians and three first responders have been injured by the fire, officials said.
The number of homes destroyed or damaged remains unclear. Officials said unsafe conditions have prevented them from getting a clear damage assessment.
The fire was continuing to move in the direction of heavily populated urban areas, authorities said.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo said in a statement over the weekend that the fire was “spreading quickly and threatening homes and structures” and that he had declared a state of emergency for Washoe County.
“The Hawk Fire is a very dynamic incident for us as it’s being driven by the winds,” said Truckee Meadows Fire Chief Richard Edwards in a video posted to social media. “The wind-driven fires move very rapidly into our residential areas, creating a lot of challenges for our firefighters to save homes and protect lives.”
He urged residents to pay attention to evacuation orders, leave early if directed and have a travel bag ready.
Weather in the fire zone northwest of Reno is expected stay mild on Monday, with highs in the middle 80s, with gusts up to 25 mph, and relative humidity around 25%.
On Tuesday, temperatures are expected to the upper 80s, with gusts between 25 and 30 mph.
The Washoe County School District announced that all classes, events and activities are canceled on Monday.
“The decision to close schools is due to evacuations, impacts on the regional public safety resources, and to help keep roads clear for emergency vehicle,” the school district said in a statement.
Northwest Specialty Hospital in Reno announced Sunday that it was evacuating patients from the facility “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Patients have been safely transported to appropriate locations where their care will continue without interruption – no patients or staff remain in the building,” the statement said.
About 10,000 utility customers remained without power on Monday, down from about 60,000 at the peak of the blaze, officials said.
Northern Nevada Health Systems said it had temporarily closed the emergency room at North Valleys north of Reno due to evacuations.
“My heart goes out to anyone in our community who has been impacted by the dangerous and fast-moving Hawk Fire,” Reno Mayor Hillary Shieve said in a statement on social media, urging residents to evacuate if told to do so and saying some structures had already burned.
The statement added: “Our firefighters and first responders are heroically fighting the fire and the high winds to save lives, homes, businesses, livestock and pets.”
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said it was monitoring the fire.
ABC News’ Kyle Reiman contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — A mother and her 2-year-old daughter were killed Sunday after being struck by lightning in a neighborhood north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to officials.
Margate Police Department and Margate Fire Rescue responded to a 911 call at about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday that two individuals had been struck by lightning and were found lying on the sidewalk in Margate, Florida, according to a Margate Police Department press release.
It appeared as though the woman and her daughter had just exited their car when lightning hit them, sending their bodies to the ground, witness Prince Moody told ABC Miami.
The mother, identified as 31-year-old Kenya Glasgow, was rushed to North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach, and her daughter to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, accompanied by a police escort, according to police.
Both victims were pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospitals, police said.
First responders and medical personnel immediately provided CPR and other life-saving efforts upon arriving at the scene, according to police.
Moody said he rushed outside to help after seeing an orange glow through his window and being told by his son that a lady had been hit.
“Very traumatic scene,” Moody said. “I offered aid as much as I could, calmed the family down, and I started praying. I called 911 immediately.”
It was very emotional to see two lifeless bodies on the ground, Moody said.
The Margate Police Department is investigating the incident.
Police have not released any additional details at this time.
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(WASHINGTON) — With hundreds of thousands of students returning to classrooms this week, President Donald Trump and Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon are hosting a “Back to School” event at the White House on Monday.
But the “wins” the administration is celebrating include highlighting their efforts to shut the department down as well as progress on bolstering school choice.
The event on Monday afternoon will be headlined by Trump, McMahon and supporters of their effort to bolster school choice, offer voucher expansions and restore parental rights, according to a White House official. The event will also tout the president’s education reforms from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act and McMahon’s continued efforts to return Department of Education responsibilities back to the states.
“President Trump and Secretary McMahon will host students and parents in the Rose Garden on Monday to celebrate the start of the new school year,” White House Spokesperson Liz Huston told ABC News in a statement, adding that the 2:30 p.m. event will celebrate the administration’s “wins” for American students, including an expansion of education freedom through a provision of the tax law.
Monday is the first day back for public school students in Washington, D.C., and other major school systems.
The Trump administration has prioritized school choice — a growing practice that allows public education funds to follow students to the schools or learning environments families choose — and urged families to leave what they contend are failing public schools amid historic learning loss and lagging test scores for students.
School choice has become a buzzword in education circles over the years and can simply mean putting parents in charge of their child’s education. However, some education advocates contend that it helps to gut public school funding and funnel resources to private schools.
Removing federal bureaucracy and Washington oversight from education was a campaign pledge for Trump that McMahon has called her “final mission.” The president directed McMahon to put herself out of a job by dissolving the department using all necessary steps permitted by law.
Since her confirmation, McMahon has partnered with several agencies that can co-manage the department’s responsibilities and severely gutted the department’s workforce by slicing its staff nearly in half.
For more than a year, the Education Department has urged states’ governors to opt-in to the school choice model within the president’s tax law. The tax law provides a charitable donation incentive for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education starting in 2027.
The agency has also handed out more than two dozen unrestricted waivers to states, gifting them millions of federal dollars and dropping certain federal requirements so that fewer strings are attached to the aid they receive from the government.
While the White House argues that most American students and families will be eligible to benefit from its school choice program and they will benefit from lower costs, critics fear that the provision within the president’s megabill could defund or harm the traditional public school system.
As the agency is reoriented to restore power to local communities and families, education experts stress that education is already a local-level issue in the U.S. On average, state and local education agencies provide about 90% of public school funding across the country.
Meanwhile, conservatives argue that the tax law provides more options for families — not less. Education Policy Analyst Colleen Hroncich previously told ABC News there has been an “uptick” in frustrated families who have chosen alternatives to traditional public education, such as public charter, private, home and microschooling.
Hroncich, of the libertarian think-tank the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, noted that there was a rise in popularity for these options during the COVID-19 pandemic because of school closures.
Parental rights advocate, Tiffany Justice, praised the administration for prioritizing choice in education.
“President Trump has always been crystal clear: every parent has the fundamental right to direct their children’s education,” Justice told ABC News in a statement. “Under his leadership, and with Secretary Linda McMahon at the helm, this administration is putting parents firmly in the driver’s seat — expanding real school choice so families, not bureaucrats, decide what’s best for their kids.”
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(WASHINGTON) — The United States Postal Service (USPS) has released a new rule adding verification requirements to all mail-in ballots, falling short of President Donald Trump’s expectations but providing additional scrutiny.
These changes will not go into effect unless the Supreme Court lifts an injunction imposed by a lower court. If given the go-ahead, the postal service said the changes would occur immediately.
Under the proposed change, states would be required to collect and report basic voter information, such as a voter’s name and home address, attached to a unique barcode on every mail-in ballot distributed. Currently, there is no standardized requirement or method for states to track this information, instead letting each state independently decide how its mail-in voting system operates.
State election authorities would then be required to input this information into a “federal ballot mail portal” before the ballot is accepted into the mail stream.
The USPS said it would not deliver ballots to any state not in compliance with these changes.
The move comes after months of attempts by the Trump administration to collect voter information in the name of election integrity. Some experts are concerned that consolidation of that information into federal hands undermines the Constitution’s system of state-run elections.
“If the administration can determine who is American enough to register to vote, who can prove it sufficiently, then they would have a lot of power to shape the electorate,” said Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy for the bipartisan nonprofit Campaign Legal Center.
The new requirements fall short of Trump’s demands — his March executive order on mail-in ballots would have established statewide voter citizenship lists from Social Security or immigration databases, established uniform ballots, and had the USPS “coordinate with the USPS Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice for investigation of suspected unlawful use of the mail involving Federal election materials.”
Most of these demands are included but watered down in the USPS’ final rule, ultimately creating a system that would track eligible voters by name and address, but keep citizenship largely out of it.
“No other voter information, such as birthdate, social security number, or other voter registration details, will be uploaded to the Portal,” the USPS said. “The Postal Service will not play any role in determining voter eligibility, maintaining voter rolls, or counting ballots.”
This rule is not a mail-in ballot ban, nor does it include the military, disability, illness, and travel exceptions requested by the president.
Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court over his executive order directing USPS to make these rules remains pending.
On Monday morning, the Trump administration notified the Supreme Court of the USPS rule finalization, saying it merely imposes “modest envelope design requirements” on states that wish to use U.S. mail to distribute ballots.
The government insists that the rules fall short of “restricting” mail-in voting and leave out many of the president’s demands.
“USPS will not perform any verification of voter eligibility or the like,” Solicitor General John Sauer told the court. The USPS will “not refuse to transmit ballots from individuals who were not on the state-provided list.”
The rule does say data collected “will help to facilitate enforcement of federal law.”
“It will provide federal law enforcement with a list of individuals to whom states planned to mail a ballot (and who may potentially use the mail to vote), along with the associated barcode data,” the USPS said.
The rule comes alongside months of gridlock for the SAVE America Act, the GOP’s signature piece of election reform that would require photo ID and proof of citizenship to vote.
“To Vote a person must show PHOTO VOTER I.D., PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP, AND THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE CROOKED, CORRUPT, & DESTABILIZING MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPTIONS for Military, Disabled, Illness, and Travel!),” the president wrote on social media. “THE SAVE AMERICA ACT’S non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!”
The president has long demanded the bill make it through Congress, even calling on the termination of the Senate filibuster to make it easier to pass, though Democrats and some Republican lawmakers say the rules would disenfranchise too many American voters. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Alaska’s 20-year struggle to implement REAL ID demonstrates just how incredibly difficult the enforcement of federal mandates can be and how unlikely it is that the SAVE America Act could be effectively implemented on an expedited basis,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a statement.
“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. As doubt is cast on their legitimacy and public trust erodes, we would do well to avoid partisan reforms that sound good on paper but may work very differently in the real world,” she added.
The USPS said it received “more than 200,000 comments” on the change and recognized concerns in its rule Friday.
“While the Postal Service acknowledges the range of disagreement on this point, the incidence of voter fraud does not impact the proposed rule’s legal grounding,” the USPS said. “Such enhanced visibility will help identify potential issues that would have otherwise gone undetected; at the very least, it will provide increased assurance that any potential issues are more capable of being effectively identified and investigated.”
The USPS said the rule will be officially published on Aug. 26. A U.S. appeals court upheld the district judge’s injunction in July, keeping any changes to mail-in ballots on hold while litigation continues.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON) — Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez woke up to a gut-wrenching call at 3:40 a.m. Tuesday: Cristy Maryori Villafranca Trejo, his wife and the mother to their 6-year-old daughter, was aboard a plane about to be deported to Honduras.
Turcios told ABC News that he scrambled to stop it. He stayed on the phone with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, sending documentation showing that his wife’s immigration case was still pending. After the officer confirmed the paperwork, Villafranca was pulled from the flight and returned to Camp East Montana, the detention center at Fort Bliss, Texas, where she remains.
It was the latest turn in an ordeal that began July 11, when masked ICE officers detained Villafranca outside a Walmart as the couple’s young daughter watched. Villafranca left Honduras in 2016 due to violent crime in the country, her husband said.
“My wife is everything to me, to my family, for my daughter, and it’s just sad that we are still being treated like criminals, just because we weren’t born in this country,” said Turcios, who became a U.S. citizen in 2024 after joining the military.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not reply to an ABC News request for comment about Villafranca’s case.
Turcios’ family is hardly alone. President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign has swept up more than 50 parents and spouses of service members during his second term, with at least six deported, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.
Danitza James, CEO of Repatriate Our Patriots, which works with Families United to help active-duty service members and veterans reunite their families, said that, beyond providing legal representation, the organization’s only other strategy has been to call Congress to request help.
She said she is currently working with eight active-duty service members and one veteran whose family members have been detained as of Aug. 20. ABC News spoke with two of the families that she is working to unite.
The cases complicate one of the administration’s central arguments for its aggressive expansion of immigration enforcement. Trump has repeatedly said ICE is targeting the “worst of the worst,” and has described immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as “animals” and “dangerous criminals” that should not be in the country.
An ABC News review of state and federal records did not find criminal records for any of the military spouses named in this story in the states where they live.
“She’s been a very supportive wife since the first day that I decided to join the military. I was deployed for nine months. She took care of my family,” Turcios said of his spouse. “She’s not a threat to anybody. We’re just trying to keep our family together.”
The Trump administration’s detention of undocumented spouses and parents of active-duty service members comes as the U.S. is at war with Iran, leaving troops without the support of their families and shifting their focus away from their military careers, advocacy groups say. Some have been forced to take leave from duty to care for their children in their spouses’ absence, according to advocacy groups and families ABC News interviewed.
“There are so many military families of active-duty service members that are living in the shadows of this immigration machine, that is putting them in fear of seeking resources and asking for help, while their service member is actively serving our country, and sacrificing for our nation,” said James of Repatriate Our Patriots.
Military service has long been a pathway to citizenship
For decades, military families have occupied a protected corner of the immigration system, according to the National Military Family Association. Under policies embraced by Republican and Democratic administrations, the undocumented parents and spouses of service members have generally been shielded from deportation.
Military recruiters have also long promoted military service as a pathway to citizenship, including through programs which can allow undocumented relatives of troops to remain in the country while applying for a green card and work authorization.
The bargain extends to troops themselves. Green card holders can join the U.S. military and troops can apply for naturalization after a year of honorable service, an incentive that stretches back to the Civil War. During World War I, Congress went further, streamlining the citizenship process for troops whose enlistment could effectively mean automatic citizenship.
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” a DHS spokesperson said in response to the recent arrest by ICE of the father of an active-duty sailor for alleged immigration violations. “Military service by an immediate relative does not automatically grant parole, lawful status, or immunity from immigration enforcement.”
Racial and ethnic minorities are making up a growing share of the military. In the Army, the Pentagon’s largest service by far, Hispanic recruits grew from about 19% of new enlistees in 2020 to nearly 27% last year, according to internal service data reviewed by ABC News.
Naturalizations through military service have also more than tripled over roughly the same period, rising from about 4,500 in 2020 to 16,000 in 2024, according to Department of Homeland Security data. The Philippines, Mexico, Jamaica and Nigeria were among the leading countries of origin for troops who became U.S. citizens through their service.
Turcios left Honduras in 2014, also to escape violence in the country, he said. After attending high school in the U.S. he joined the military and became a U.S. citizen in 2024 after a nine-month deployment to the Middle East. Then he began pursuing citizenship for his wife, hoping his service would help expedite her naturalization process, he said.
Instead, Villafranca, undocumented spouses and parents of many other active-duty military personnel have been forced into detention, according to lawyers, advocacy groups and military families.
Villafranca relayed allegedly inhumane conditions in Camp East Montana, according to her husband. The facility is the country’s largest detention center, which sits on land formerly used for Japanese-American internment camps during World War II.
Turcios said his wife had to wear the same clothes for about four days. Access to clean clothing remained an issue until he reached out to Rep. Veronica Escobar, D- Texas, who sent an inquiry to ICE regarding Villafranca’s lack of clean clothing. Turcios said that after a few weeks, they finally fixed the issue.
Detained at green card interview
Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo has served in the military for 11 years and is currently stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana. His wife, Maisa Lopes Eliaser, came to the U.S. from São Paulo, Brazil, in 2019 on a tourist visa, which she had overstayed while Jaramillo was helping her pursue citizenship.
She was taken into custody in front of Jaramillo, who was dressed in uniform, and their five-year-old son during an appointment to be interviewed to get her green card.
Lopes Eliaser spent two days in Pickens County Jail in Georgia before being transferred to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where she slept in a large room with approximately 80 people for about six weeks, her husband said.
On July 13, Lopes Eliaser said ICE officers put her on a bus to the Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana. She was then flown to Bogotá, Colombia, where the plane stopped before its final destination, Brazil. During the layover, Lopes Eliaser called her husband using someone else’s phone, he said.
Jaramillo said he had been communicating with Sen. Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran, about his wife’s case before she was taken to the airport. When Lopes Eliaser disappeared from the detainee-tracking app that Jaramillo was checking, he contacted Kelly again to ask for help bringing her home.
“Maisa’s case is an example of this administration’s focus on targeting the loved ones of those who’ve stepped up to serve our country. It’s wrong and makes no sense at all,” Kelly wrote in a statement to ABC News.
Kelly’s office told ABC News that his casework team established communications with the ICE field office and kept Jaramillo updated.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment on Eliaser’s case at the time.
What members of Congress are doing
Jaramillo credits Kelly for contacting ICE and getting Lopes Eliaser eventually returned to the U.S. When she landed in Brazil, she was flown back to the Alexandria International Airport without ever stepping off the airplane. Jaramillo and Lopes Eliaser were reunited and are currently together at their home in Louisiana.
“That was a nightmare. That was a really, really nightmare,” Jaramillo said. “I’m never going to explain best how difficult it was and still is.”
While Jaramillo and Lopes Eliaser are now united, they are still dealing with the aftermath of her detention and deportation. Jaramillo had to take leave to care for his son and fight to get his wife back. Now that his wife is back home, he said he will return to service on Monday.
Since Lopes Eliaser was first detained, Jaramillo said he has incurred more than $7,000 in legal fees and costs associated with submitting paperwork, approximately equal to over a month’s pay.
Jaramillo said his wife is still experiencing health issues from the conditions of detention, which he said were crowded and where she also lacked access to clean clothing. Jarmillo said he took her to see a doctor Thursday.
James said that many of the other cases of active-duty military service members’ families being detained have involved members of Congress making calls to reunite families.
Kelly has publicly been involved with two other cases of military families targeted by the Trump administration for deportation.
In a letter sent Aug. 9 to DHS, the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs, congressional Democrats wrote that they will investigate whether the Pentagon and DHS are coordinating to deport military service members and their families.
“The best way to bring change to this is to the legislative or policy, because this should not be a phone call. This should not be a one-case change,” James said. “This is clearly impacting more than 50 military spouses and cases across the board, and there needs to be a change that is codified.”
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday said in a social media post that he will ratchet up tariffs on Canada-made cars and auto parts in January, escalating a trade war between the United States and Canada.
The moves comes after negotiations between Canada and the U.S. broke down over the weekend. A fresh round of 50% U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods took effect on Saturday, prompting a vow from Canada to retaliate with a set of its own levies.
The latest announcement from Trump promised to double tariffs from 25% to 50% on Canadian cars and auto parts starting on Jan. 1, 2027. The elevated levy will also apply to steel and trucks, according to the president.
“On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with,” Trump said his social media platform on Monday. “They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!”
It is unclear why Trump is waiting until January.
In the first half of 2026, the U.S. exported $175.8 billion in goods to Canada — the second biggest export trading partner after Mexico — accounting for 14% of all U.S. exports, according to the Census Bureau.
The sharp criticism arrived days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued blistering remarks about the U.S. approach to trade negotiations. He said talks broke down after American negotiators made requests that were unfavorable to Canada.
“They asked too much and offered too little,” Carney said at a Saturday press conference.
According to Carney, the 50% tariff would be applied to roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods and that Canada would match the U.S. “dollar for dollar.” Canada’s retaliatory tariffs would go into effect on Sept. 8 and more details will be revealed later, the prime minister said on Saturday.
Carney noted that one of the sticking points was changes by the U.S. over its levels of tariffs on automobiles that he claimed would have hurt Canada’s economy over time.
He criticized the Trump administration, saying it “uses economic integration as a weapon.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Moke continues to churn in open waters in the Central Pacific, just days after Hurricane Lala left widespread destruction across Hawaii.
The new system is currently located about 755 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, with winds of 50 mph.
It is moving west-northwest at 12 mph and is expected to pass south of the Hawaiian islands through the weekend into early next week.
Moke is forecast to remain at tropical storm strength through next Wednesday before weakening Thursday.
On the current forecast track, rain and gusty winds will arrive to the Big Island Saturday night and continue through the beginning of next week.
The storm is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches, with maximum amounts of 15 inches across the Big Island.
Rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches, with maximum amounts of 5, are expected across the remainder of the Hawaiian islands.
This rainfall may produce life threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in steep terrain and over areas that were affected recently by Hurricane Lala.
Lala moved south of the Big Island on Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane, damaging or destroying more than 100 homes and cutting off some communities, according to the governor. The storm dumped more than a foot of rain over parts of the state, with the highest elevations getting more than 40 inches. Thousands on the Big Island are still without power.
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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday struck down the Trump administration’s policy suspending immigrant visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries, setting aside refusals based solely on the policy and requiring those cases to be reconsidered by consular officers under the normal immigration laws.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas said the policy, announced by the State Department in January, “is contrary to law and was issued in excess of Secretary Rubio’s statutory authority.”
The directive instructed U.S. embassies and consulates to suspend immigrant visa adjudications while the State Department reassessed its vetting procedures under existing immigration law.
The State Department said in January the pause was intended to “prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”
Vargas said Friday the policy conflicts with federal immigration law, which gives consular officers “exclusive authority and discretion” to determine whether an immigrant is eligible for a visa.
“The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme,” Vargas wrote.
The judge’s order also vacates visa denials that were based solely on the policy.
“The suspension of lawful visa processing across 75 countries separated spouses, parents, and children who were simply following the legal immigration process,” said Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the group that filed the lawsuit challenging the policy.
“Catholic social teaching calls us to uphold the dignity of every person and recognize the family as the foundation of society,” Gallagher added. “Today’s decision affirms both those values and the rule of law, allowing families to once again move forward toward reunification.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment, nor has it indicated it is going to appeal the decision.
“The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of America’s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,” a State Department spokesman said in a statement when the policy was announced. “The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people.”
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods are set to take effect early Saturday morning, just days after he pushed back a previous deadline while the two sides negotiated a trade agreement.
Trump claimed earlier this week the United States had reached a preliminary deal to resolve a dispute with one of its top trade partners, saying the breakthrough had prompted him to issue a reprieve from the levies.
A statement from Canada appeared to downplay Trump’s assertion about the trade agreement, touting “substantial progress” but noting that important work remained.
The new tariffs, targeting dozens of products from hockey sticks to wine, are poised to take hold at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Due to exemptions on key goods, the tariffs were expected to hit only a fraction of U.S. imports from Canada. Still, the list of affected goods features an array of food items such as dairy products, honey, whey protein and molasses as well as alcoholic beverages like whiskey and vodka.
It all comes weeks after Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on 60 trade partners, including the European Union. Those levies ramped up an effort to reconstruct far-reaching duties struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.
Trump said Wednesday that he had held a “very good conversation” with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday night, repeating that he’d struck a deal to avert the 50% American tariff on a hodgepodge of Canadian goods.
The president claimed that as part of the deal, Canadian tariffs on American agricultural goods would be “non-existent.”
“The tariffs will be non-existent for our farmers. Our farmers were paying tremendous tariffs into Canada. And those tariffs are going to be totally eviscerated down to zero,” Trump noted.
In a statement, Carney said the country’s representatives aimed to achieve an agreement that would bolster its domestic industry.
“While we continue this work, Canada remains focused on building a stronger, more independent, and more competitive economy at home,” Carney said in a statement.
When later asked by a reporter whether the deal would reduce tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, Trump added, “Well, we’re looking at that.”
The U.S. trade representative’s office on X responded to Trump’s announcement Tuesday, providing a bit of insight into what a final deal might entail.
“The deal will include comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and many important provisions that will continue to protect our market and American workers, along with our Canadian partners,” the USTR posted.
Trump had suggested the deal might include a renewed effort to build the Keystone Pipeline despite the project being canceled in 2021 after years of criticism about the project’s environmental impact.
“Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave!” Trump added in the post.
Unlike previous tariffs, the new U.S. tariffs on Canada would have applied to products compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, a free trade agreement. The levies included significant exemptions, however, leaving out some top Canadian imports such as oil, gas and potash.
Trump has carried out on-again, off-again trade negotiations with Canada since he took office, aiming to resolve a dispute that began with tariffs announced by Trump early in his second term.
Trump sought to impose the new tariffs under a legal authority enshrined in section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to enact levies up to 50% for countries found to have discriminated against the U.S. relative to their treatment of other nations.
The provision has never been invoked before, meaning the move lacks judicial precedent, Abigail Watt, an economist at UBS, said in a memo shared with ABC News.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
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