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5 million student loan borrowers face mandatory collections starting May 5

April 22, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Some 5 million Americans with defaulted student loan payments will have their loans sent for collections on May 5, the Department of Education announced on Monday.

Next month, for the first time since student loan payments were paused due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Department will collect the debts from borrowers who had defaulted — which means they hadn’t paid their debts for around nine months or 270 days — before the pandemic.

The announcement comes as scores of Federal Student Aid (FSA) employees have been terminated at the Department of Education as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shutter the agency, which creates uncertainty for borrowers and the future of the student loan system, according to former Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal.

“The concern is that the department is, you know, cutting the people who would help borrowers make this transition,” Kvaal told ABC News. “Borrowers who are trying to get help by getting into an affordable repayment plan or by applying for loan forgiveness, if they’re eligible, you know, just don’t have the same resources that they did before the department staff was cut in half.”

The pause — started in 2020 in Trump’s first administration — for all 43 million student loan borrowers was implemented due to the economic hardship and disruption caused by COVID. This will be the first time in five years the repayments have begun.

Kvaal said defaults can be “tragic” for borrowers. In some cases, Kvaal said, defaults can negatively impact credit scores and future student aid, and several states revoke driver’s licenses over defaults.

However, the department emphasized that its effort will protect taxpayers from shouldering the cost of federal student loans that borrowers “willingly” undertook. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon also said taxpayers will no longer be responsible for the “irresponsible student loan policies” of the previous administration.

“The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear,” McMahon wrote in a department release. “Hundreds of billions have already been transferred to taxpayers. Going forward, the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, will shepherd the student loan program responsibly and according to the law, which means helping borrowers return to repayment — both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook.”

A defaulted loan is a loan that a borrower hasn’t made payments on for 270 days, according to the office of federal student aid. When the loan officially enters default, it becomes eligible for mandatory collections.

The collections on loans are typically done through wage garnishments, a legal procedure in which a person’s earnings are required by court order to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt, according to the Department of Labor.

Student debt can also be collected through offsetting tax refunds or other federal benefits, which Kvaal said can include one’s Social Security. The collections process starting in just two weeks is blocking these borrowers’ path out of default, according to Student Borrower Protection Center Executive Director Mike Pierce. Pierce said the Trump administration is feeding them into the “maw of the government debt collection machine.”

“This is cruel, unnecessary and will further fan the flames of economic chaos for working families across this country,” Pierce told ABC News in a statement.

But the administration’s efforts to place borrowers into involuntary collections programs will be paired with a comprehensive communications and outreach campaign to ensure borrowers understand how to return to repayment or get out of default, according to the department release.

The news also comes as the administration is working to rehome the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to other agencies. Trump announced the loan system would be moved to the Small Business Administration “immediately” during a White House event last month.

After the announcement, Kvaal, who worked in senior roles in the Obama and Biden administrations, told ABC News his higher education portfolio under Obama included moving some loan functions to the Department of Treasury. But he warned shifting the student loan portfolio again could lead to real world consequences.

“We’re at a point now where millions of borrowers are late on their student loans,” he said. “For the department to be focused on laying off half its staff and going through a fundamental reorganization of how it administers these programs, you know, in really critical weeks for borrowers who are trying to get into repayment plans or get loan forgiveness, I think it’s very dangerous and puts at risk millions of borrowers of going into default on their loans.”

‘Doomsday mom’ Lori Daybell delivers closing argument in murder conspiracy trial

April 22, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(PHOENIX) — Lori Daybell, the mother convicted of murdering two of her children in a so-called doomsday plot, delivered her closing argument Monday during her latest trial in Arizona, where she is charged with conspiring with her brother to kill her fourth husband.

Dubbed the “doomsday mom,” Daybell has maintained that her brother shot her then-husband of 13 years, Charles Vallow, in self-defense in her home in Chandler, Arizona, in July 2019. Her brother, Alex Cox, died from natural causes months after the shooting.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, said the shooting was a ploy for Daybell to get rid of her estranged husband so that she could get his $1 million life insurance policy and be with her current husband, Chad Daybell, whom she married four months after the shooting. Prosecutors further said she invoked their religious beliefs as justification for the murder and gave her brother “religious authority” to kill Vallow because they believed he was possessed by an evil spirit they referred to as “Ned.”

Lori Daybell, 51, represented herself in the Phoenix trial. She has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

During her nearly 20-minute closing argument, she told jurors the shooting was not a premeditated murder but a “tragic family event.”

“This event was not planned or expected. It was shocking,” she said.

She argued that officers neglected to conduct a thorough investigation, though she also said the Chandler Police Department “did treat this event just like it was: self-defense.”

“This is an attempt by the state to try to retrofit a crime that doesn’t exist,” she said.

Daybell also urged the jurors to watch her entire police interview conducted after the shooting, part of which was shown during the trial.

The judge sustained several objections during her closing argument after she referred to testimony that had not been entered into evidence during the trial.

During her nearly two-hour closing argument on Monday, Maricopa County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Treena Kay said the evidence at the scene shows that Vallow was not shot in self-defense, but was “executed” and the scene “staged.”

She began by recounting text messages sent from Lori Daybell to her husband, Chad, seven days after Vallow was killed, discussing her now-deceased husband’s life insurance policy. Kay said that, upon learning she was no longer the beneficiary of the plan, the defendant messaged Chad that “Ned” probably changed it “before we got rid of him.”

“Her words tell us that she was involved in this killing, her actions and her words of texting Chad Daybell tell us the motives behind this murder — Chad and money,” Kay told jurors.

The prosecutor also revisited witness testimony that she said spoke to what she called Lori Daybell and Alex Cox’s “twisted religious beliefs” and a text message the defendant sent her brother days before the deadly shooting that mentioned Nephi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon who God commanded to kill Laban.

“Lori Vallow wanted the million dollars, and she wanted Chad Daybell, and she and Alex used that twisted religious beliefs they had so that they could kill the evil, possessed Charles and ‘be like Nephi,'” Kay said.

Kay said Alex Cox showed up at his sister’s home with a loaded gun, “ready for his mission,” and shot Vallow twice. She argued that the evidence shows the second shot was fired while Vallow was lying on the ground.

“That is premeditated first-degree murder, no matter what you believe before that,” Kay said.

Daybell countered in her closing that Nephi “signifies strong faith, perseverance and courage.”

“The state’s attempt to misconstrue the positive text message about a wonderful religious figure, Nephi, and try to turn it into an order to kill someone is absurd,” she said.

Kay advised jurors that even if you don’t hear someone explicitly talk about conspiring, “a conspiracy may be inferred from circumstances showing a common criminal objective.”

In this case, the conduct inferred a “conspiracy of Alex coming over with his gun to shoot and kill Charles,” she said.

The jury is now deliberating the verdict.

Over two weeks, the state called more than a dozen witnesses, including Daybell’s other brother, Adam Cox, who testified that he had “no doubt” his two siblings conspired to kill Vallow upon learning that his brother had fatally shot him.

Daybell did not call any witnesses in the trial and did not take the stand in her own defense.

In her cross-examination, Daybell tried to question the thoroughness of the police investigation into the shooting. She asked several witnesses, including her brother Adam Cox, if they personally saw her conspire with her brother Alex Cox to murder her husband, to which they responded no.

Throughout the trial, the judge often sustained frequent objections from the prosecution over Daybell’s questions for testifying, hearsay, relevance and speculation.

After the state rested its case on April 16, Daybell presented a motion for acquittal due to insufficient evidence. The judge denied it, saying the court finds there is sufficient evidence that a reasonable juror could find her guilty.

Both Lori and Chad Daybell were found guilty of first-degree murder for the deaths of her children, Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, who went missing months after Vallow was killed. In two separate trials in 2023 and 2024, prosecutors argued that the couple thought the children were possessed zombies and murdered them so that they could be together. The children’s remains were found on an Idaho property belonging to Daybell in June 2020 following a monthslong search.

Lori Daybell is currently serving life in prison without parole for the murders of her two children. She has denied killing them.

Chad Daybell was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering the two children, as well as his first wife, Tamara Daybell, and now awaits execution on Idaho’s death row.

El Salvador government rejects lawmakers’ request to visit Abrego Garcia

April 22, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR) — The government of El Salvador on Monday rejected a request from four Democratic lawmakers to visit wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The lawmakers were trying to arrange a meeting four days after a visit from Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, where Abrego Garcia and his family live.

In an interview with MSNBC from El Salvador, Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost said Monday that he and the others were told that their visit was rejected because they are not in El Salvador “in an official capacity.”

“We’re not giving up,” Frost said. “We have more meetings scheduled.”

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who has been living with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13.

The Trump administration, while acknowledging that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in error, has said that his alleged MS-13 affiliation makes him ineligible to return to the United States. His wife and attorney have denied that he is an MS-13 member.

An official with the U.S. Department of State said Monday in a status report that Abrego Garcia is in “good conditions and in an excellent state of health.”

“The Salvadoran government responded on April 21 that Mr. Abrego Garcia is being held at the Centro Industrial penitentiary facility in Santa Ana,” Michael Kozak, a senior bureau official for the State Department, reported.

Sen. Van Hollen said that Abrego Garcia told him at their meeting that he had been transferred out of CECOT “about eight days” prior.

Harvard sues Trump administration over threats to cut funding if demands go unmet

April 22, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Harvard University is suing President Donald Trump’s administration for threatening to withhold federal funding if the school did not comply with its list of demands.

The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts federal court, asks a judge to block the funding freeze from going into effect, arguing the move is “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority.”

In it, lawyers for the university argue that the administration is unlawfully using billions of dollars in federal funding as “leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard.”

They also allege that the funding freeze violates the First Amendment, flouts federal law and threatens life-saving medical research.

“All told, the tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote.

Earlier this month, following the school’s refusal to budge on the government’s demands, the administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism – alleging the school has failed to confront antisemitism on campus – froze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts, and it reportedly plans to pull an additional $1 billion in funding for medical research.

The decision followed Harvard University President Alan Garber’s letter on April 14, which said that the school “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” by agreeing to a series of terms proposed by the Trump administration.

The lawsuit is the school’s latest effort to push back against the administration’s threats.

“The Government has not—and cannot—identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the lawsuit said. “Nor has the Government acknowledged the significant consequences that the indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in federal research funding will have on Harvard’s research programs, the beneficiaries of that research, and the national interest in furthering American innovation and progress.”

In addition to arguing the funding freeze violates the First Amendment, Harvard’s lawyers alleged the Trump administration failed to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which sets out a series of procedures needed before funding can be frozen.

“The Government made no effort to follow those procedures—nor the procedures provided for in Defendants’ own agency regulations—before freezing Harvard’s federal funding,” the lawsuit said.

The school asked a federal judge to declare the funding freeze unlawful, block it from taking effect and enjoin the government unilaterally freezing furniture funding without following the steps laid out by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Garber announced the lawsuit in a letter published to the school’s website on Monday, saying the administration’s demands sought to impose “unprecedented and improper control” over the university.

“Doubling down on the letter’s sweeping and intrusive demands—which would impose unprecedented and improper control over the University—the government has, in addition to the initial freeze of $2.2 billion in funding, considered taking steps to freeze an additional $1 billion in grants, initiated numerous investigations of Harvard’s operations, threatened the education of international students, and announced that it is considering a revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status,” Garber’s statement said.

“These actions have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the standing of American higher education in the world,” it continued.

The Trump administration has also cut funding at Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern — with Harvard being the most high-profile and first university to explicitly refuse the government’s demands.

“Today, we stand for the values that have made American higher education a beacon for the world. We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” Garber said in his statement announcing the lawsuit on Monday.

The White House did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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

Who are the top contenders to be the next pope? Experts weigh in

April 22, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(VATICAN CITY) — The question looming on many minds around the world following the death of Pope Francis on Monday is who will become the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The selection process will begin when all cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to participate are summoned to Rome to prepare for the secret conclave inside the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pontiff. This gathering typically begins between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death.

While the inner workings of the conclave and how the group ultimately decides on a new pontiff remain a secret, experts are still weighing in on who could be the likely front-runners for the papacy.

Francis, who was a progressive leader of the church, had appointed roughly 80% of the cardinals who are eligible to vote for the new pope, according to Miles Pattenden, historian of the Catholic Church at Oxford University. But, Pattenden told ABC News that does not mean the next pontiff will directly mirror the same values as Francis.

“It’s a mistake to think of [Francis’ cardinals] as one homogenous block. Not all of them will have shared Francis’ views,” Pattenden told ABC News. “Some of them will have been open about that. He appointed them because they represented important areas or factions in the church that he thought should be represented. Other ones possibly weren’t in harmony with all of Francis’ views, but kept quiet about it. Now he’s no more, we will see where their actual positions are.”

Any baptized Catholic male is eligible to take Francis’ place, but Pattenden said Pietro Parolin, the cardinal secretary of state, and Luis Tagle, the archbishop of Manila in the Philippines, are the main front-runners.

Pietro Parolin

Parolin, who “looks very much on paper like he should be the obvious continuity candidate,” has been the secretary of state since August 2013 and is a “vastly experienced Vatican diplomat,” Petterden said.

“He’s got all the right credentials. The question is whether most of the cardinals want that or not,” Pattenden said.

Cristina Traina, religious studies professor at New York’s Fordham University, said Parolin is someone who is “extraordinarily versed in the internal workings of the Vatican, but that could count against him if they are interested in continuing Vatican reforms.”

Luis Tagle

A candidate similar in “charisma and emphasis on pastoral mission” to Francis is Tagle, who was appointed by Pope Benedict as the archbishop of Manila in 2011, Pattenden said.

“His downside is that he may be a little bit young, he’s only 67,” Pattenden said. “It’s not clear that he has the right kind of administrative experience. If the cardinals are looking for someone to steady the ship and to make sure that the Vatican stays in order, maybe they want someone else.”

Even though Francis “elevated a lot of cardinals with generally progressive views” and “it would be fairly automatic they’d choose one of their own, someone in Francis’ image,” Pattenden said there are still conservative candidates that could gain recognition, including Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo, Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson and Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah.

European moderates: Matteo Zuppi, Jean-Marc Aveline, Mario Grech

If the “more obvious front-runners don’t command majority appeal” during the selection process, Pattenden said European moderates, including Archbishop of Bologna Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Marseille Jean-Marc Aveline and Archbishop of Malta Mario Grech, could also potentially gain consensus among the conclave.

Regardless of who the successor will be, Traina told ABC News the new papacy will vary from Francis’, since not many candidates hold his stance of being pastorally progressive yet theologically conservative.

Pope Francis progressives: Marc Ouelett, Willem Eijk

The only two that Traina said resemble Francis’ approach would be Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouelett or Dutch Cardinal Willem Eijk.

“Successors have different skills than their predecessors, and that’s not because people are rejecting the predecessor skills,” Traina said. “It wouldn’t be surprising for there to be a change, the question is, which direction?”

ABC News’ Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.

What Pope Francis said about controversial issues from gay rights to immigration

April 22, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis, one of the more progressive pontiff’s in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Monday morning at the age of 88, the Vatican confirmed.

Francis’ willingness to take a more progressive stance on issues from LGBTQ rights to same-sex marriage to immigration make him one of the most progressive and influential popes of the modern era.

Here are memorable moments from Francis’ time where he voiced his opinions on those topics.

Francis’ stance on members of the LGBTQ community

In December 2023, Francis formally signed off on allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples, he said in a declaration released by the Vatican’s office.

The declaration stated, “When people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it. For those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection.”

“A blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendence, mercy and the closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live,” the declaration stated.

Before this declaration, Francis had previously reaffirmed the church’s stance on marriage — “an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation” — but also said he advocated for “pastoral charity.”

“The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude,” he said in a letter written in July 2023.

He added that “pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage.”

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press earlier that year, Francis said “being homosexual isn’t a crime.”

In 2013, during his first foreign trip as pope, a journalist asked Francis a question about gay priests, to which he replied: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

Francis on migrants: ‘The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration’

In a letter shared in February, Francis rebuked the Trump administration over the migrant deportations occurring in the United States in the wake of the president’s second inauguration, calling it a “major crisis.”

“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends to foreign lands,” the letter read.

He said that he “act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and woman, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

Francis, who was the first pope from Latin America, also donated $500,000 to migrants at the U.S. border back in 2019 to assist in providing food, lodging and basic necessities for those fleeing their home countries through Mexico.

Francis previously stated he was against surrogacy, abortion

In an interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in May 2024, Francis stated surrogacy is “not authorized” and advocated for adoption.

“Sometimes surrogacy has become a business, and that is very bad,” Francis told CBS News. “The other hope is adoption. In each case, the situation should be carefully and clearly considered, consulted medically and then morally as well.”

In 2014, the pontiff also shared his views on abortion, calling it part of the world’s “throwaway culture.”

“Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary,'” Francis said in 2014 during his “State of the World” address.

Nadine Menendez, wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez, found guilty in federal bribery trial

April 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A jury has found Nadine Menendez guilty in her federal bribery trial, following the conviction of her husband, former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, on similar crimes.

Prosecutors argued the two were “partners in crime” while accusing them of accepting cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for political favors.

The defense argued there was no proof Nadine Menendez was involved in the scheme her husband was found guilty of perpetrating.

Jurors began deliberating Friday afternoon before reaching their verdict Monday afternoon.

She will be sentenced in June, the same month her husband is due to report to prison to begin serving an 11-year sentence.

She pleaded not guilty to 15 charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. Several of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison in January after being convicted on all 16 counts last year in his federal corruption trial, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.

A jury found him guilty of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes — including gold, cash, a luxury convertible, payments toward Nadine Menendez’s home mortgage and compensation for her no-show job — from three New Jersey businessmen, who have also been convicted.

“Nadine Menendez and Senator Menendez were partners in crime,” acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement following the verdict in the corruption and foreign influence scheme. “Over the span of five years, Nadine Menendez agreed to accept and accepted all sorts of bribes — including gold bars, cash, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and a no-show job — all in exchange for the Senator’s corrupt official acts. Together, Nadine Menendez and the Senator placed their own interests and greed ahead of the interests of the citizens the Senator was elected to serve.”

“Today’s verdict sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale, and that all those who facilitate corruption will be held accountable for their actions,” he added.

The FBI said it found $70,000 in cash in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box and the rest inside congressional jackets bearing Bob Menendez’s name.

Shortly after the two began dating in 2018, Nadine Menendez introduced Egyptian intelligence and military officials to then-Sen. Bob Menendez, according to federal prosecutors, who alleged those introductions helped establish a corrupt agreement in which they accepted bribes in exchange for her husband’s actions to benefit Egypt.

Witnesses in the trial included Jose Uribe, a New Jersey businessman who pleaded guilty last year and testified for the government. Prosecutors said Uribe paid for Menendez’s $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for helping disrupt a criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to Uribe.

Nadine Menendez was supposed to stand trial alongside her husband, but the judge allowed her to stand trial separately to accommodate her breast cancer diagnosis. Her trial was postponed several times while she underwent treatment.

The trial itself was also suspended for several days because she was ill.

On March 17, on the eve of jury selection in Nadine Menendez’s trial, the former senator posted on X that his wife was being “forced by the government to go to trial” despite having recent reconstructive surgery for breast cancer.

“Only the arrogance of the SDNY can be so cruel and inhumane,” Bob Menendez said in the post, which tagged President Donald Trump. “They should let her fully recover.”

Following his sentencing, Bob Menendez called the prosecution a “political witch hunt” and that he hopes Trump “cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”

In issuing Bob Menendez’s sentence, Judge Sidney Stein said the former senator would not have to report to prison until June 6 so that he could be available during his wife’s trial.

DOJ tells judge accused migrants can have at least 24 hours to contest deportations under AEA

April 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Lawyers for the Justice Department, facing pushback on the Trump administration’s efforts to deport alleged migrant gang members under the wartime Alien Enemies Act, told a federal judge in Colorado Monday that they would give such migrants at least 24 hours to file a habeas petition contesting their removal.

The move came during a hearing Monday in which U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney heard arguments over a temporary order she issued barring the administration from removing any noncitizens from Colorado under the 18th century authority that lets noncitizens be removed with little-to-no due process.

Regarding individuals who file for habeas corpus, the DOJ attorney said “the government, at this time, has no intent to remove those individuals pending litigation.”

In response, ACLU Colorado Legal Director Tim Macdonald argued that it is “preposterous” to suggest that a 24-hour notice would be enough time to allow people to file a habeas petition.

“I guess we should be peppering this court with hundreds of habeas petitions to the extent the government even allows us in the facility to talk to those people,” said Macdonald. “That’s not the way the rule of law should work.”

The hearing came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the AEA deportations of Venezuelan migrants being held in northern Texas after attorneys for the men said the accused gang members had received notices saying they were about to be deported.

Macdonald on Monday argued that the notices are “chilling to anyone who cares about due process” and requested the judge grant a temporary restraining order blocking such deportations in Colorado.

“If your honor were to deny the TRO, [the government] could either begin removing people immediately from the District of Colorado or find another jurisdiction where they don’t yet have a TRO and begin removing people there,” Macdonald said. “This has life or death consequences.”

The Trump administration last month touched off a legal battle when it invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that “many” of the men lack criminal records in the United States — but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose” and “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”

“The alleged harm to the government being unable to remove someone from a statute that was last seen more than 75 years ago … is trivial in comparison to the harms the humans that have been sent to the CECOT, potentially for the rest of their lives,” Macdonald argued Monday.

Judge Sweeney said her existing order would remain in effect until she issues a new ruling in 24 hours.

Also Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco will consider next steps after that judge last month put a temporary pause on the Trump administration’s plans to end legal protections and benefits for up to 350,000 Venezuelan migrants.

The hearing comes after an appeals court on Friday denied the Trump administration’s effort to block that pause.

The alleged Venezuelan gang members deported to El Salvador last month were sent to CECOT as part of a $6 million deal the Trump administration made with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for El Salvador to house migrant detainees as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In a post on social media on Sunday, Bukele proposed repatriating the 252 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. in exchange for the release of an equal number of “political prisoners” from Venezuela.

“I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold,” Bukele wrote to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on X in Spanish.

Last week, Venezuelan Minister of Interior Relations Diosdado Cabello claimed that the Venezuelan government has “proved” that none of the Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration deported to El Salvador are members of Tren de Aragua.

The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Secretary Noem’s purse snatched from DC restaurant with $3K in cash inside

April 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Secretary Noem’s purse snatched from DC restaurant with K in cash inside

Secretary Noem’s purse snatched from DC restaurant with $3K in cash inside — Win McNamee/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Department of Homeland Security Seceretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen at a Washington restaurant over the weekend, according to a DHS official.

Noem had $3,000 in cash in her purse, along with her passport, makeup bag, DHS access card, apartment key and other items.

A DHS official said the secretary had the cash because her family was in town and she was treating them to Easter festivities.

A man wearing a mask walked by the secretary’s table and snatched the purse. The Secret Service is investigating, according to the DHS official.

Stocks slide as Trump escalates criticism of Fed Chair Powell

April 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks tumbled in early trading on Monday as President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of the Federal Reserve, urging the central bank to immediately lower interest rates and questioning the policy approach of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The comments came days after Trump said he was eager for Powell’s “termination” despite a longstanding norm of political independence at the central bank.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1,050 points, or 2.6%, while the S&P 500 fell 2.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 3%.

Last week, Powell voiced alarm about Trump’s tariff policy, saying it would likely hike inflation and slow economic growth. Powell indicated that the Fed may approach interest rates with restraint as policymakers observe the economic effects of Trump’s tariffs.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump dubbed Powell “Mr. Too Late” in reference to a policy approach that Trump views as overly cautious.

Trump warned of the possibility of an economic slowdown “unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW.”

In addition, Trump claimed without evidence that interest rate cuts enacted by the Fed last year had stemmed from an effort to “help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected.”

Since Powell became Fed chair in 2018, he has repeatedly affirmed the Fed’s political independence. The Fed is an independent government agency established by Congress.

In November, days after Trump’s election victory, Powell struck a defiant tone when asked whether he would resign from his position if Trump asked him to.

“No,” Powell said, pausing to let the one-word answer register with the reporters assembled at a press conference at the Fed headquarters, blocks away from the White House.

When asked whether Trump could fire or demote him, Powell responded: “Not permitted under the law.”

Powell last week raised the possibility of what economists call “stagflation,” which is when inflation rises and the economy slows.

If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation under such a scenario, it risks stifling borrowing and slowing the economy further, experts previously told ABC News.

On the other hand, experts said, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a potential slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.

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