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Some SNAP recipients say they have to choose between rent and food amid halt in benefits

November 6, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Over the last week, Martina Santos said she feels like she’s been living a nightmare.

The 67-year-old from the Bronx, New York, is one of the nearly 42 million Americans who saw their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits lapse on Nov. 1.

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would partially fund the program using emergency funds, officials said it could take “a few weeks to up to several months.” Additionally, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that no benefits will be distributed until the government reopens.

The uncertainty of if or when SNAP benefits will be funded is leaving many Americans, like Santos, wondering whether she is going to pay rent, pay her bills or buy food.

“This is crazy. I’m nervous … thinking about how I can get the money to buy what I need right now, because I don’t have food stamps,” she told ABC News. “I need to make a decision if I pay my rent, when I pay my electricity or I buy food. It’s not easy.”

Santos, who volunteers at the nonprofit West Side Campaign Against Hunger, said she is asking her landlord if it’s possible to make a partial payment for the month of November.

She added that she’s going to a pantry this week because she doesn’t have much food in her house besides packets of beans and cereal, along with a gallon of milk her son bought for her.

In addition to food, Santos said the loss of benefits is particularly devastating because she uses them to purchase distilled water for her CPAP machine, which helps treat sleep apnea and, in turn, her high blood pressure.

“When I don’t use the machine, by the next day, I [wake] up tired, I don’t want to do anything, because I don’t sleep [well],” she said. “I want to wake up. How can I get out of this nightmare right now?”

Domestic violence survivors impacted by loss of SNAP benefits

Nicole, 42, from Long Island, New York — who asked that her last name not be used — started receiving SNAP benefits in 2024 after leaving a domestic violence situation.

She receives about $994 in SNAP benefits per month to help buy groceries for her and her three children — ages 12, 13 and 17 — which she said is a struggle.

“Food is so expensive right now. So, when you go into stores and you’re buying and trying to budget and save, it’s just not enough,” she told ABC News. “That’s the feeling that I get when I go food shopping. I’m a budget shopper. I try to look out for deals that they’re having and just stock up and be a bulk shopper.”

Nicole said she receives cash assistance and help from family, which has helped cover the cost of some groceries in the wake of SNAP benefits being halted, but added she has been occasionally checking her mobile app to see if the EBT card balance is still $0.

“I’ve been checking periodically just to see if it’s going to say that food stamps are going to be available. I just still have this little hope in praying that it will be there,” she said. “And I was thinking to myself today, like, ‘How long do you think it’s gonna go and thank God we’re getting the cash assistance and some people they just don’t have it. They just don’t have family.'”

She said she thinks this situation is going to last for a couple of months and said she is using this as motivation to hopefully get off of SNAP benefits for good.

Nicole Branca, CEO of New Destiny Housing, a nonprofit that provides housing to domestic violence survivors and their children, said 70% survivors that the organization serves receive SNAP benefits.

She said the loss of benefits can compound the physical and mental health struggles that many survivors already experience.

“Domestic violence survivors are particularly harmed by this loss of SNAP benefits because of the economic abuse that they’ve experienced,” she said. “Nearly 100% of DV survivors experience financial abuse as part of the abuse, so that means their abuser restricted their access to bank accounts, ruined their credit and didn’t allow them access to their own paycheck. And so we work with them to start from scratch.”

Branca continued, “It’s so hard to find the words to describe how devastating this is for our families, who are just starting to recover financially, emotionally, physically and the thought of not being able to pay for food on the table for their kids or having to decide between food and rent. It’s really taking a toll on our families.”

‘Anxious and concerned’

Elayne Masters, 68, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, started receiving SNAP benefits in 2017 after suffering a traumatic brain injury following a fall down a flight of stairs.

In addition to her injury, Masters also suffers from hypothyroidism, which occurs when the thyroid gland doesn’t make and release enough thyroid hormone in the bloodstream, as well as Lyme disease, an inflammatory illness usually caused by an infected tick bite.

Masters typically receives about $250 in SNAP benefits, saying it allows her to buy healthy foods that help improve symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, confusion and joint pain.

She said her various conditions are improved by a healthy diet, and she’s worried that she won’t be able to buy nutrient-dense food without SNAP benefits.

“Foods that are basically high amounts of produce, vegetables and fruits, help to decrease the problematic health symptoms that I have and when I’m eating a really healthy diet, I’m doing better, I’m seeing the doctor less frequently, I’m taking fewer medications. I’m more functioning,” she told ABC News.

“And when I’m not able to pay for those healthy foods, my health declines, my cognitive functioning declines,” Masters went on. “If I weren’t able to maintain those healthy levels of eating, because it affects me so dramatically, so it’s a huge, huge difference in my quality of life and my ability to be a productive part of society as well.”

Masters said she went to a pantry last Wednesday and received a pre-packaged bag of food after attending a meeting at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

She said she is “anxious and concerned” about being able to pay her electric bill, car insurance and house insurance within the next month.

“Winter is coming, and heating bills will be higher. If anything breaks down, I’m in trouble,” she said. “The holidays are coming, and I may not be able to finish gift shopping.”

In the past, to make ends meet, Masters said she has done things to stretch the shelf life of her food, such as cutting mold off a block of cheese, peeling the rotting layers of an onion to reach the layers that are still good or saving vegetable scraps to make her own broth.

“I’m starting to consider, okay, what kinds of things can I do that are going to help me stretch my dollars and some of the strategies that I’ve used in the past?” Masters said. “I may be able to skate through a month, but much beyond that, and it’s going to be difficult.”

Judge rules against online platform Roblox, keeping alleged abuse case in the public eye

November 6, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK)- — A father’s lawsuit against the online gaming platform Roblox will remain in the public eye after a California judge denied the company’s attempt to force the dispute into a private resolution process.

While the ruling issued last week by California Superior Court Judge Nina Shapirshteyn applies only to one case in San Mateo County, attorneys representing dozens of families view the ruling as a legal precedent that opens the door for other victims to pursue their lawsuits against the company through the judicial system.

Roblox, launched in 2006, has been at the center of recent controversy, with some parents alleging that the platform has been used to help facilitate child sexual exploitation and grooming. The company is facing over 35 lawsuits, with one law firm telling ABC News that it is investigating thousands of child sexual exploitation and abuse claims.

Roblox had nearly 83 million average daily active users in 2024, according to its financial reports. It reported $3.6 billion in revenue last year.

The attorneys general of Louisiana and Kentucky have filed lawsuits against the company, and recently Florida’s attorney general subpoenaed Roblox for information about its age verification and chat moderation policies.

The company has consistently responded to the lawsuits and allegations by stating that protecting children is a priority and announcing investments in safety measures, including artificial intelligence age verification.

“We are deeply troubled by any allegations about harms to children online and are committed to setting the industry standard for safety,” a spokesperson for Roblox told ABC News. “To protect our users, we have rigorous, industry-leading policies, including limiting chat for younger users and employing advanced filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. Roblox also does not allow users to share images or videos. We also collaborate closely with law enforcement.”

The Roblox spokesperson told ABC News the company disagrees with the ruling from the California judge and plans to appeal.

‘The gateway to all of this happening’
Steve, the father whose lawsuit prompted last week’s ruling in California, told ABC News that in 2023, he created a Roblox account for his son who was 13 years old at the time.

A year later, Steve — who asked ABC News not to publish his last name out of concern for his son’s safety — made a devastating discovery. He says he found messages on his son’s phone from an individual who, according to civil court documents, found his son on a children’s game in the online platform and initiated contact, despite him and his son not being “friends” on the platform.

According to Steve and court records, the perpetrator, who had initially posed as a 16-year-old, moved communication off of Roblox and onto Discord, a separate communication platform. Once there, he allegedly began exploiting Steve’s son by offering Robux gift cards — Roblox’s in-game currency — in exchange for explicit images and videos.

The messages Steve found allegedly included direct threats after his son failed to show up to an arranged in-person meeting, with the accused predator reminding the teenager that he knew his New Jersey address, according to the complaint.

“He had our home address, what school he went to, his phone number, everything,” Steve said.

Steve told ABC News he immediately contacted local police who later told him that the man who messaged his son was a known predator who was facing charges in another case for sexually exploiting another child. According to the complaint, authorities believe the same individual similarly exploited at least 26 other children using online platforms.

In February, Steve filed a lawsuit against Roblox and Discord, alleging the companies misled him and other parents about the platforms’ safety and features, leading directly to his son’s “sexual exploitation and abuse.”

In a statement to ABC News, a Discord spokesperson said the company is “committed to safety” and said it requires all users to be 13 to use their platform.

“We maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet,” the spokesperson said.

“I’ve traditionally kept myself as a ‘helicopter parent,’ so I did all my research,” Steve said. “I did my best to enable every parental control I could find, and a lot of them are pretty confusing, but I tried my best to keep him safe online and teach him as best I could, and it still happened.”

Steve told ABC News that Roblox “was the gateway to all of this happening” because that’s where “all the conversations started.”

‘Everyone deserves a day in court’
Alexandra Walsh, the attorney representing Steve and about a dozen other clients suing the company, said Roblox’s response to the lawsuit was to file a motion to compel arbitration — a private, out-of-court process where claims are settled confidentially by a third party.

“[It was] a motion to silence this family, to prevent this family from presenting what happened to them to a judge and jury, and instead put it into a secret rigged system,” Walsh told ABC News. “Roblox has followed suit in multiple other cases … they’ve either filed similar motions to compel arbitration, or made very clear that they intend to do so.”

In court filings, Roblox has said the dispute must be settled confidentially, because Steve, when he signed up for Roblox, was provided notice of the Terms of Service and the Arbitration Agreement mandating that any dispute “will be subject only to binding arbitration.”

The company said in filings that their arbitration agreement is “consumer friendly and cost friendly.”

Last week, Judge Shapirshteyn rejected Roblox’s motion to compel arbitration.

Walsh told ABC News the company has a right to defend itself, but it should do so “in the light of day so the public can see, and so that a jury made up of citizens of this country can decide if they’re liable or not.”

Steve told ABC News the ruling was “reassuring.”

“Everyone deserves a day in court, but Roblox and these companies don’t want that to happen,” Steve said. “They want to keep things quiet.”

Steve told ABC News that his family moved across the country because they did not feel safe in their home.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “Predators aren’t down at your local park anymore. They’re not hanging out in the dark city places … it has become just so easy for them to come online and pretend to be somebody that they’re not.”

Vietnam braces for Typhoon Kalmaegi after storm’s deadly path through the Philippines

November 6, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Typhoon Kalmaegi was barreling on Thursday morning toward Vietnam after leaving a trail of destruction in the Philippines.

The storm was expected to make landfall later on Thursday or early on Friday, the U.S. Consulate in Vietnam said in a weather advisory.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister urged the country’s emergency response agencies and ministries to ready themselves as the country braces for the impact of the typhoon.

The Vietnamese National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said coastal areas may see waves up to 26 feet and a storm surge up to 2 feet. Winds were expected to be as strong as about 84 mph, the center said.

The country is already battling flash floods and landslides after record rainfall in late October. Those floods killed at least 35 people, officials told AFP.

Some 100,000 homes flooded and the country experienced more than 150 landslides, Vietnam’s environment ministry said, according to AFP.

The typhoon is expected to bring a heightened risk of flooding, flash floods and landslides, weather and state officials said.

“Additionally, infrastructure already weakened by previous flooding may be increasingly unreliable,” the U.S. Mission’s advisory added.

A trail of destruction in the Philippines

In the Philippines, where the typhoon made landfall on Tuesday amid heavy rains and flooding, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved a state of emergency declaration on Thursday.

That declaration was intended to “expedite government response efforts in areas” affected by the storm, according to a press release from the official Philippine Information Agency.

The storm killed at least 66 people, according to state-run media. The official Philippine News Agency reported that “most” of those deaths “were due to fallen debris, landslides and flooding.”

Another six Philippine Air Force personnel were killed in a helicopter crash on Tuesday while performing humanitarian assistance, officials said.

The country was already recovering from an offshore earthquake and typhoons in the last few months. The Philippine Area of Responsibility is hit an average of 20 per year, most in the world, according to the Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

Another potential super typhoon is approaching the country now, local officials said in a news release. That storm is expected to make landfall either Friday night or Saturday morning, officials said.

CBP sees lowest October border encounters on record

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection had the lowest number of border encounters in any October, according to statistics obtained by ABC News.

The numbers also represent the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded. CPB says.

In October, there were 30,561 total encounters nationwide — the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded by CBP. The previous record low was 43,010 in October of FY2012, officials said.

The numbers are also almost 80% lower than in October 2024, according to CBP statistics.

“History made: the lowest border crossings in October history and the sixth straight month of ZERO releases. This is most secure border ever,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement to ABC News, who also thanked the men and women of CBP.

Since Jan. 21 through the end of October, there have been 106,134 total enforcement encounters along the southwest border. The daily average encounters along the border is 258 per day — 95% lower than the previous administration’s encounter numbers, CPB said.

Customs and Border Protection has focused now on interior enforcement due, it says, to the lack of migrants encountered at the border. They are currently deployed to cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles.

“Our mission is simple: secure the border and safeguard this nation,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “And that’s exactly what we are doing. No excuses. No politics. Just results delivered by the most dedicated law-enforcement professionals in the country. We’re not easing up — we’re pushing even harder.”

Thune says ending filibuster ‘not happening’ despite Trump’s demands

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Returning from the White House Wednesday after President Donald Trump made yet another call for Senate Republicans to overturn the filibuster, Majority Leader John Thune reiterated his view that there are not the necessary votes among Senate Republicans to change the Senate rules.

Thune was asked Wednesday if he believed that Trump could sway some of his reluctant members to support the filibuster.

“I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members,” Thune said. “But I know where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and … it’s just not happening.”

Thune has been an outspoken defender of the Senate’s rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislative matters. But he’s not the only Republican who has publicly expressed skepticism about overturning the rule.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds was among the group of Republicans who met with Trump for breakfast at the White House after a bruising election night, which saw Democratic victories in several races. After the meeting, Rounds said that the president made “a really good point” about Republicans changing the rule. But he wasn’t sold.

“I think there’s a lot of us that really think the Senate was designed in the first place to find a long term, stable solution to problems, so we’ll listen to what the president has to say,” Rounds said.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy called the filibuster “important.”

“My position hasn’t changed,” Kennedy said Wednesday. “As I’ve said before, the role of a senator is not just to advance good ideas. The role of a senator it to kill bad ideas. And when you’re in the minority, we’re not now, but we could be someday, it’s important to have a filibuster.”

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said his views on the filibuster aren’t changing.

“There’s nothing that could move me on the filibuster,” Tillis said. “I’ve been that way for 11 years. Too old to change now.”

Other lawmakers said they they could be persuaded to end the filibuster.

GOP Sen. John Cornyn has been an outspoken defendant of the filibuster for years. On Wednesday, he told reporters, “I’m open to changing the filibuster.”

Cornyn said his mind is being changed on this issue by the “fact that we haven’t been able to do regular order appropriations for a while” and “having a willful minority being able to shut down the government at any time they want to.”

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley also said the shutdown was beginning to change his tune on the rule.

“My message is to my Democrat friends; we better find a way to get to the table real fast. Because if you’re putting me to a choice between, are people going to eat, or am I going to defend the arcane filibuster rules, I’m going to choose people eating. So, we’re getting there real fast,” Hawley said.

Thune said Trump “honestly believes” in ending the filibuster, but then pivoted, saying the focus should be on reopening the government — which has been shut down for 36 days as of Wednesday, making it the longest government shutdown in history.

He was asked whether he agreed with Trump’s assessment that the government shutdown negatively affected Republicans during Tuesday’s election. He said it was “hard to draw conclusions.”

“Well, I mean, here in Northern Virginia, possibly. I don’t know for sure,” Thune said of the Virginia election, which saw Democratic victories for the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general races. “This is a community here, obviously, in Northern Virginia, that has a lot of federal workers. So it certainly could have been a factor in the elections.”

The election losses, Thune said, were “pretty much expected.”

“So I think that, you know, the challenge for us going forward is to make sure we are speaking to the issues the American people care about — the economic issues.”

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took a victory lap on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, saying the election results prove that it’s time for Republicans to negotiate with Democrats on ending the shutdown.

“Last night was a great night for America and a five-alarm fire for Donald Trump and Republicans. The Republicans’ high-cost house is on fire, and they’ve only got themselves to blame,” Schumer said on the floor. “As loudly and clearly as they could have, the American people said last night, ‘Enough is enough.'”

Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a new letter addressed to Trump, are demanding a bipartisan meeting with Republicans to end the shutdown and address the “Republican health care crisis.”

Schumer and Jeffries have repeatedly requested bipartisan negotiations throughout the shutdown.

“It is time to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to bring this Republican shutdown to an end,” Schumer said on the floor Wednesday. “We told the president we’ve been asking for a meeting for weeks and even months, but now the election results ought to send a much needed bolt of lightning to Donald Trump that he should meet with us to end this crisis.”

ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

2 New Jersey teens arrested in connection with alleged Halloween terror attack plot

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two New Jersey teenagers have been arrested in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween attack in Michigan that the FBI announced it had thwarted last week, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The NYPD and FBI-Newark arrested Tomas Kaan Guzel, 19, before he could board a flight to Istanbul, the sources said.

A second 19-year-old, Milo Sedanet, was also arrested, according to sources.

Two other men, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, were arrested on Friday for their alleged roles in the plot, according to court records unsealed on Monday.

They allegedly “used online encrypted communications and social media applications to share extremist and ISIS-related materials,” and allegedly used the term “pumpkin day” for their plans, according to the complaint.

According to sources, an NYPD undercover had been monitoring Guzel, who was allegedly in communication with those arrested in Michigan and others overseas. The group allegedly talked about an attack on the LGBTQ community in Detroit and about traveling to Syria to train with ISIS, sources said.

Guzel allegedly had planned to travel in two weeks to Turkey and onward to Syria from there, but it’s believed he got spooked after last week’s arrests and moved his flight up, sources said.

There were searches at his home in Montclair and also in Seattle as part of the investigation, the sources said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

DC sandwich thrower’s misdemeanor assault case nears closing arguments

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The man accused of throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent in Washington, D.C., waived his right to testify in court Wednesday, ahead of closing arguments in his ongoing misdemeanor assault case.

Sean Charles Dunn, a former Department of Justice staffer, was charged with a misdemeanor after a grand jury failed to indict him on a more serious felony assault charge.

Both sides are expected to deliver closing arguments later today in the case that first went viral during the federal surge of law enforcement in D.C.

Dunn was caught on camera throwing a Subway sandwich at a Border Patrol agent in August.

According to the earlier felony criminal complaint, Dunn allegedly approached the officer while shouting “f— you! You f—— fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”

After several minutes of confrontation, Dunn allegedly threw the sandwich, striking the officer in the chest, the complaint says.

His sudden launch into the public spotlight inspired a groundswell of attention to his case in the early days of the surge.

The court will resume this afternoon for closing arguments.

-ABC News’ Alex Mallin contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Driver in custody after striking pedestrians in France, interior minister says

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — A driver was taken into custody after allegedly striking and injuring several pedestrians and cyclists in southwestern France, the interior minister said.

“An investigation has been opened,” Laurent Nunez, the minister, said in French on social media. “At the request of the prime minister, I am heading to the scene.”

The strikes appeared to have been along a “route” through Saint Pierre and Dolus, two villages about 4 miles apart on the island of Oleron, Nunez said.

Two of those who were struck were in serious condition and three others were injured, he added.

Details about the driver and the vehicle were not immediately released.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani says New York will resist Trump ‘intimidation’

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that he would not be “intimidated” by potential threats from President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard to the city.

“His threats are inevitable,” Mamdani said. “This has nothing to do a safety, it has to do with intimidation.”

“If it was safety, President Trump would be threatening to the deploy the National Guard to the top 10 states of crime, eight out of which are all Republican-led,” Mamdani added. “But because of that party he won’t actually be doing it.”

The 34-year-old democratic socialist was propelled to victory amid a record turnout in New York City. More than 2 million voters turned out on Tuesday — the first time a mayoral election crossed that threshold since 1969.

Mamdani will become the city’s youngest mayor since 1892 and the first Muslim to hold the office.

Mamdani also said he saw his election victory as a “mandate” to pursue the “most ambitious” affordability agenda for New Yorkers in decades.

He described the first steps toward funding that agenda as pushing to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers — along with raising corporate taxes to 11.5% from its current level at about 7.25%.

“These things together raise about $9 billion,” he said, “which more than pays for the economic agenda and also starts to Trump-proof our city.”

Mamdani’s proposal for city-funded universal child care is among the policies he said he planned to fund with new tax revenues.

Federal judge weighing ICE use of force in Chicago

November 5, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(CHICAGO) — A federal judge is set to hear arguments Wednesday and is weighing extending restrictions on the use of force by federal immigration agents in the Chicago area.

Attorneys representing journalists, clergymen and protesters who say they’ve been harmed by federal immigration agents during lawful protests are expected to show images and call on witnesses they say prove the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are “increasingly reckless and dangerous.”

Videos of several violent immigration arrests and clashes between federal agents and protesters in the region have become a flashpoint in the nation’s debate over immigration enforcement. But the Department of Homeland Security says their agents have been harassed and followed by violent protesters and are responding appropriately to a 1,000%-increase in attacks on agents across the United States.

“Although some protests remained peaceful, others turned violent,” the government claimed in court filings. “Rioters have attacked law enforcement personnel with fireworks, rocks, and other objects. Rioters also breached the perimeter of federal buildings, blocked all traffic into the only immigration facility in the region, damaged federal vehicles, and injured officers. At some violent protests, officers responded by issuing dispersal orders and using nonlethal crowd-control devices.”

In October, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order restricting federal agents from “using riot control weapons” against journalists, protesters and religious practitioners without first issuing warnings unless necessary to stop “an immediate and serious threat of physical harm” to agents or others.

Ellis also prohibited agents from “dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force” against anyone they should reasonably know is a journalist. The judge expanded the order on Oct. 16 to include a requirement for federal agents equipped with body-worn cameras to wear them and keep them on during “law enforcement activities” in the Chicago region. That order is set to expire on Thursday, Nov. 6.

But in recent weeks, plaintiffs in the case have provided several accounts, often caught on tape, of incidents they say are evidence that DHS is violating her court order. Attorneys submitted video from an incident in Evanston, IL last Friday which allegedly showed agents clashing with protesters and individuals involved in a collision with a government vehicle.

Videos taken of the incident showed a federal agent pressing a man’s head to the ground for nearly two minutes as the man yelled “I can’t breathe.” In one declaration submitted in court, an eyewitness who took a video of the incident said she saw a federal agent “bash his head on the street at least two times.” The eyewitness said she then saw the agent “strike the young man in his head with his hand or fist at least two times.”

Another declarant, David Brooks, who filmed the incident said a Border Patrol agent pointed a pistol at him.

“Step back or I’m going to shoot you,” the agent allegedly told Brooks.

“I took a step back and said ‘you’re gonna what,’” Brooks wrote.

“He then pulled out his pistol from his holster and pointed it directly at me. I was startled and stepped back again. He holstered the gun,” he added in his declaration.

In a statement about the Evanston incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said agents were being “aggressively tailgated” by a vehicle that crashed into them.

“A hostile crowd then surrounded agents and their vehicle and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. One physically assaulted a Border Patrol agent and kicked an agent. As he was being arrested, he grabbed the agents’ genitals and squeezed them. As you know this is an extremely painful experience for most human beings and justifies certain responses, the agent delivered several defensive strikes to the agitator to free his genitals from the agitator’s vice,” she said.

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