Halsey has been outspoken about their anger over the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court last month, leading fans in a chant of “my body, my choice” at an Arizona concert and telling those in favor of the ruling to “go home right now. I don’t care.” Now, they’ve written an essay for Vogue detailing their own experiences with abortion and why motherhood has only strengthened their resolve to fight for abortion rights.
In the essay, Halsey reveals, “I miscarried three times before my 24th birthday,” adding, “One of my miscarriages required ‘aftercare,’ a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention.”
“During this procedure, I cried. I was afraid for myself and I was helpless,” they continue. “I was desperate to end the pregnancy that was threatening my life.”
Revealing that they’d changed their will during pregnancy so they could donate their organs if they were brain-dead, but their heart was still beating, Halsey noted the irony in the fact that “a beating heart in my womb could mean I couldn’t consent to saving my own life.”
While they’ve since been asked many times if becoming a mother has changed their views on abortion, Halsey writes, “The answer is firmly no. In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it. My abortion saved my life and gave way for my son to have his.”
They conclude, “Every person deserves the right to choose when, if, and how they have this dangerous and life-altering experience. I will hold my son in one arm, and fight with all my might with the other.”
Travis Barker took to social media Saturday to explain the medical emergency that landed him in the hospital earlier in the week.
He confirmed that he suffered from a “severe life-threatening” case of pancreatitis.
“I went in for an endoscopy Monday feeling great. But After dinner, I developed excruciating pain and have been hospitalized ever since,” Barker tweeted.
“During the endoscopy, I had a very small polyp removed right in a very sensitive area, usually handled by specialists, which unfortunately damaged a critical pancreatic drainage tube,” he continued. “This resulted in severe life-threatening pancreatitis.”
“I am so very very grateful that with intensive treatment I am currently much better,” Barker wrote.
Barker’s wife, Kourtney Kardashian, also broke her silence on the medical scare, writing on her Instagram Story, “Oh what a scary and emotional week it has been. Our health is everything and sometimes we take for granted how quickly it can change.”
She continued, “I am so grateful to God for healing my husband, for all of your prayers for him and for us, for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support. I am so touched and appreciative.”
(VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn.) — The bodies of three young children and their mother were pulled from a Minnesota lake during a two-day search in what is being investigated as a possible triple murder-suicide, authorities said.
Law enforcement responded to Vadnais-Sucker Lake Regional Park in Vadnais Heights Friday afternoon in response to a welfare check requested on the woman and children, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The woman’s car and items including the children’s shoes were found at the scene, prompting responding deputies and officers to close the park and begin searching the area and water, the sheriff’s office said.
The first child was pulled out of the lake around 7:30 p.m. Friday and declared dead following life-saving measures, authorities said. The second child was located around midnight and declared dead. Responders continued to look for the remaining child and woman until 3 a.m.
Ramsey County Sheriff Water Patrol searching Vandnais Lake—family members running to scene—being kept back by police. The medical examiner has arrived. We’re waiting for an update. @kstppic.twitter.com/kZPUfce7wu
The search resumed at 6 a.m. Saturday. The woman was located around 10:40 a.m., and the third child about 20 minutes later, the sheriff’s office said. Both were declared dead.
All three children — two boys and a girl — are believed to be under the age of 6. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner will release the names of the four found and their manner and cause of death at a later date.
“There is nothing more tragic than the loss of children,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told reporters Friday, saying that the responders would be searching “long into the night.”
Distraught family and friends had gathered outside the police perimeter while the search was underway Friday, ABC affiliate KSTP in Saint Paul, Minnesota, reported.
The welfare check at the lake is believed to be connected to another death investigation in a nearby city in Ramsey County, the sheriff’s office said. On Friday morning, Maplewood police officers and firefighters responding to the report of a possible suicide in a residential area found a man dead at the scene.
After responding to that report, authorities then began searching for the mother and three children, ultimately tracking the mother’s cellphone to the lake, Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin told reporters during a briefing Saturday.
“Our hearts go out to the families involved here and their friends,” Martin said. “Our goal was to find the children and the mother and to return them to their families, and we’re glad that we were able to do that.”
No further information was released on the connection between the two death investigations.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Pete Arredondo, the embattled police chief of the school district where 19 children and two teachers were killed in a shooting, is resigning from his city council post, city officials said.
A local newspaper in Uvalde, Texas, first reported Arredondo’s decision to resign, which city officials later confirmed.
Arredondo, the police chief for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, served as incident commander during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24. He has faced criticism and calls for his resignation as chief from parents and the Uvalde community over the police response and delay in breaching the classrooms where the gunman carried out the attack.
Arredondo was elected to the Uvalde City Council in early May and sworn in days after the school shooting. He told the Uvalde Leader-News on Friday he plans to resign from his city council post, according to the local newspaper.
Following the report’s publication, the city of Uvalde said it had not seen a letter of resignation or spoken to Arredondo. The Uvalde city manager’s office told ABC News Saturday afternoon that the city council had just received his written resignation. The city called his resignation “the right thing to do.”
In his resignation letter obtained by ABC News, Arredondo said that “it is in the best interest of the community to step down as a member of the City Council for District 3 to minimize further distractions.”
“The Mayor, the City Council, and the City Staff must continue to move forward to unite our community, once again,” he continued.
Arredondo and his representatives have not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The news comes after the Uvalde City Council last week denied Arredondo’s request for a leave of absence from future meetings, in an effort to be more transparent following criticisms of law enforcement’s handling of the shooting.
Arredondo has not been present at three meetings since he was sworn in, including a heated hearing on Thursday during which families of victims demanded more information on what happened that tragic day.
The school district placed Arredondo on administrative leave last week, effective immediately, amid multiple ongoing investigations into the shooting.
Arredondo defended the police response in a rare interview with The Texas Tribune last month.
“Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children,” Arredondo told the paper. “We responded to the information that we had and had to adjust to whatever we faced.”
He added, “Our objective was to save as many lives as we could, and the extraction of the students from the classrooms by all that were involved saved over 500 of our Uvalde students and teachers before we gained access to the shooter and eliminated the threat.”
He also told the paper he did not consider himself the commanding officer on the scene that day.
During an emotional school board meeting last week, parents and community members called for Arredondo’s resignation. Several argued that law enforcement should be held partly accountable for the tragedy due to what was described as inadequate decision-making.
Nineteen law enforcement officers waited 77 minutes in the hallway outside the classroom containing the gunman, after Arredondo wrongly believed that the situation had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject, law enforcement has said.
Arredondo testified last week for almost five hours during a hearing on the shooting held during an executive session by the Texas state House of Representatives. A special Texas state Senate panel is also currently conducting a probe into the shooting.
The Uvalde district attorney is also investigating the shooting, and the U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the law enforcement response.
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo, Teddy Grant, Samira Said and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Attending the World Cup in November? The Department of Homeland Security will be on hand to help make sure the soccer tournament is safe and secure, according to a senior department official.
“We are committed to working closely with Qatar to make sure the world can enjoy a safe and secure World Cup,” Rob Silvers, the under secretary for strategy, police and plans at DHS, told ABC News in an interview. “We’re are going to be providing security support to our partner and we’re going to be doing that in a range of ways.”
Silvers said he is headed to Qatar this week to shore up those security partnerships.
One of the ways is by providing Transportation Security Agency (TSA) personnel to provide baggage screening support for people attending the matches.
“We’re going to host a delegation from Qatar at a U.S. airport to show them our airport security practices here because obviously they are expecting a large number of visitors and we want to help them on that front,” Silvers explained.
The department has experience with large scale sporting events domestically, with the U.S. Secret Service taking the lead on security every February at the Super Bowl.
The Secret Service will be on sight helping out the Qataris at the World Cup.
“We’re going to have our Secret Service providing support on protective details and on major event security coordination,” Silvers said.
Silvers also explained they are providing cyber resources through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
The DHS official told ABC News there is no credible threat to the World Cup but “it’s a large and prominent gathering, and we should always be prepared from a security perspective.”
(NEW YORK) — As the largest migrant caravan this year makes its way through Mexico toward the United States, numerous organizations on both sides of the border are trying to support the several thousand immigrants seeking asylum.
For people like Estefanía Rebellón, who runs a school within a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, the work is personal.
“When I was 10 years old, my parents had to travel to the United States from Colombia to seek asylum,” Rebellón told ABC News. “I know what it’s like to be transported from your home to a completely unknown place.”
Rebellón runs a school called Yes We Can, which provides free education to children five days a week while their families are preparing to cross the border into the United States.
This week, the Supreme Court voted to overturn the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP, which required migrants seeking asylum and traveling through Mexico from a third country to return to Mexico while awaiting their court dates. The Biden administration has rarely enforced the policy and has said it seeks to end it.
Far more consequential has been former President Donald Trump’s policy called Title 42, which allows border officials to turn migrants seeking asylum away due to the health risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the American Immigration Council, over 1.8 million people have been expelled as a result.
Recently more than 50 people died in an alleged migrant smuggling operation in San Antonio, Texas, in what Homeland Security Investigations has called the deadliest incident of human smuggling in U.S. history.
Willie, a third-generation coyote, the colloquial term for a person who smuggles migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, says that he has no qualms about his profession.
“Nothing in this life is safe,” Willie, who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym, told ABC News’ Maria Elena Salinas. “Right now, [there are] people who are helping their families and have thanked me for it.”
“For some it’s illegal. For us it’s legal,” he added of his illegal activities.
In Deming, New Mexico, 35 miles from the U.S. Mexico border, Ariana Saludares runs a pop-up shelter for migrants called Colores United.
Some who are dropped at her shelter have applied for asylum and are legally awaiting their claims; others have requested humanitarian parole. The shelter, which receives around 50 migrants twice a week, runs out of a number of local hotels.
Saludares says that, while she would love to have a permanent space for a shelter, the local hotels she operates out of are her only option.
“There’s no other space that’s available to us,” said Saludares. “We hope that will change one day, but we can’t wait. We need a shelter. And we need it now.”
Benny Jasso, the mayor of Deming is specifically concerned that removing Title 42 would mean an influx of migrants that he says the city cannot handle.
“What I’m concerned with is, are we going to be able to process them?” he told Salinas.
“We do not have the volunteer base right now to establish a shelter.”
He says that Deming currently receives no federal resources to help house the asylum seekers they receive.
What might be a concern to some, like added safety risks, are not a concern for Deming’s police chief Clint Hogan.
“We don’t have any issues… at all,” he told Salinas during an interview.
Marisa Ugarte is the founder and executive director of the human rights non-profit Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, based in California.
Ugarte has helped people such as “Maria,” who is a survivor of abuse at the hands of people who promised to smuggle her safely across the border.
“Maria,” who is using a pseudonym due to safety concerns, was brought from El Salvador to Sonora, Mexico, where instead of finding safety she says she was repeatedly drugged and raped.
She finally managed to escape and fled to a shelter where she was helped by the workers, who encouraged her to make the trip to the U.S.
“Thank God I’m okay, even though I almost died,” “Maria” told Salinas. “But God never abandoned me.”
Maria was taken to meet Ugarte, who helped her obtain asylum in the U.S. For Ugarte, who has supported countless women in similar situations, the notion that people immigrating to the U.S. should do so the proverbial “right way,” waiting for whatever legal means are available at the time, is flawed.
“What is the right way?” she said. “If you’re running from violence and from dying, what is the right way?”
(NEW YORK) — World UFO Day is an annual affair that has captured the interest of many enthusiastic alien believers and recognized globally with parades, scientific discussion, and occasionally pointy tinfoil hats.
It takes place every July 2 to commemorate the anniversary of the alleged 1947 Unidentified Flying Object crash in Roswell, New Mexico. The original report hailed the crashed object as a “flying disk.” Later, the U.S. Army called it a UFO accident, but ultimately, the Pentagon claimed it was a balloon wreck. To this day, many don’t accept that account and have urged the government to declassify information.
Since 2001, people worldwide have celebrated the day, but it takes various forms. Science museums, restaurants, and entire towns hold their own events to commemorate the day.
Some Ufologists, or UFO researchers, voice concern with how the day is observed. Instead of the tinfoil hat-wearing that has been documented at past parades, those such as Ronald James hope for “meaningful discussions and awareness,” to come out of the day. James is the media relations director of Mutual UFO Network, a nonprofit which investigates reported UFO sightings around the world.
“We think anything that brings awareness to the topic is good, but we also again are dedicated to the scientific understanding of the subject,” James told ABC Audio. “World UFO Day is absolutely awesome, just because it’s bringing attention to the whole topic.”
The official World UFO Day goal is “to celebrate the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life”, according to the event’s website. One of the proposed actions to celebrate is to “watch the sky together and spot strange objects flying around,” which is exactly what one branch of MUFON plans to do. The Missouri MUFON Chapter is holding a “sky watch” Saturday at 7 p.m. in Kansas City, to locate potential UFOs.
According to a poll by the Pew Research Center, 65% of Americans believe that aliens exist. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives held a hearing on UFOs and the possible vulnerabilities they generate. This was something that MUFON’s 4000-plus members advocated for since its founding in 1969 and was the first time the House had done so in 50 years.
“We were happy that the hearings happened. MUFON was in Washington,” James said. “We were involved in helping to push this forward and we’re actually in Washington a lot right now dealing with politicians.”
For those living in Roswell, New Mexico, the site of the alleged crash that sparked this all, awareness is just a slight part of the celebration. Ufologists will speak about their take on the government’s role in investigating alleged UFO sightings, but more so, the day is an economic opportunity presented by their annual UFO Festival, which now marks 75 years since the Roswell incident.
This year, its festival will take place Friday through Sunday and will feature a parade, concert, speakers, food, tours, and more, making it the biggest celebration of World UFO Day anywhere, with a history that spans long before World UFO Day became a global phenomenon.
(NEW YORK) — Supreme Court marshal Gail Curley is asking Maryland officials to enforce state and local laws that prohibit picketing outside the homes of justices.
Curley sent the requests to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Montgomery County executive Mark Erlich in letters dated July 1, citing an uptick in demonstrations since May — when the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public.
“For weeks on end, large groups of protesters chanting slogans, using bullhorns, and banging drums have picketed Justices’ homes in Maryland,” Curley wrote to Hogan, noting one crowd outside the home of a justice grew to more than 100 people.
The Maryland residences of Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh have been the site of such activity. Alito and Kavanaugh were part of the majority opinion overturning Roe on June 24.
Last month, a man was arrested outside Kavanaugh’s home with a gun. Nicholas Roske, 26, allegedly told authorities he intended to kill the justice. Roske has pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting to kill a justice of the United States.
Curley in her letters pointed to a Maryland law which states a “person may not intentionally assemble with another in a manner that disrupts a person’s right to tranquility in the person’s home.” The law provides imprisonment for up to 90 days or a $100 fine.
Curley also cited a Montgomery County law that states a “person or group of persons must not picket in front of or adjacent to any private residence.”
As the Supreme Court marshal, Curley oversees security and the court’s police force.
Hogan and Elrich’s offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment by ABC News.
Curley noted that Hogan previously said he was “deeply concerned” when hundreds of people gathered to protest at the justices’ homes. In mid-May, Hogan joined fellow Republican governor, Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin, in urging U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to enforce a federal law that forbids demonstrations intended to sway judges on pending cases. In Virginia, the home of Justice Amy Coney Barrett has also been a target of protesters.
Elrich previously told ABC affiliate WCTI that he wished the protests were done somewhere else. “If everybody’s going to protest everybody who does something at their houses, we’re going to have a very hard time maintaining civil society,” he said, as Curley noted in her letter.
Security has been tightened for the justices and their families since the draft abortion ruling was leaked on May 2, and the protests have been the topic of legal debate as protesters argue they are exercising their First Amendment rights.
Curley is also investigating the leak of the draft opinion. Little details have been provided about the probe, but it will likely look at the document’s paper trail, as draft opinions are not widely accessible.
The high court just ended a dramatic and divisive term, ruling on hot-button topics like abortion, gun rights, religious liberty and environmental regulation.
The justices will reconvene in October for a term that will include cases on election laws, free speech and consideration of race in college admissions processes.
(NEW YORK) — A 23-year-old victim onboard a tractor-trailer involved in an alleged smuggling incident in San Antonio was released from the hospital, according to University Health Hospital. Another adolescent male remains in critical condition, according to the hospital. The smuggling incident left 53 people dead after they were trapped in a tractor-trailer.
The Bexar County medical examiner’s office has conclusively identified 19 of the victims killed, the office said Saturday. The victims’ ages range between 13 and 38. Of these 19 victims, eight were citizens of Mexico, six were citizens of Guatemala and five were citizens of Honduras.
The office is unsure of whether the victims’ next of kin have not been informed yet, so their names have not yet been released.
The office has also made 30 potential identifications, but is awaiting confirmation of these cases from the victims’ respective consulates. Four of the victims remain unidentified, according to the medical examiner’s office.
One of four men facing federal charges in connection with the alleged smuggling incident appeared in court Thursday. Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, of Pasadena, Texas, is charged with one count of alien smuggling resulting in death. He is suspected of being the driver of the truck that was found in San Antonio on Monday.
Zamorano could face up to life in prison or the death penalty.
Court documents show Zamorano will be held in the custody of the United States Marshal without bond until he appears again in court on July 6. Zamorano was appointed a public defender.
Investigators say Zamorano was apprehended at the scene after trying to pass himself off as one of the migrants. Police were able to recover a phone, a hat and a wallet that contained an ID belonging to Zamorano, court documents show.
Using surveillance footage from the truck’s immigration checkpoint border crossing, officials from Homeland Security Investigations say they were able to determine that Zamorano was the driver. The driver was seen in surveillance footage wearing a black shirt with white or grey stripes and a hat. HSI officials say they verified Zamorano was wearing the same clothing.
Zamorano was taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation after he was apprehended.
According to court documents, responding HSI agents initially found 48 people dead inside and around the tractor-trailer. Of those found dead, authorities say 22 were from Mexico, seven from Guatemala, two from Honduras and 17 of unknown origins, who officials suspect are undocumented.
Officials said 16 people were hospitalized.
According to court documents, there were 64 individuals suspected of being in the country illegally in connection to this alleged smuggling incident.
Of the 53 bodies in the custody of the medical examiner’s office, 40 are male and 13 are female, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday.
Rebeca Clay-Flores, the Bexar County Precinct 1 commissioner, said at a press conference Tuesday that some of those found are under the age of 18, likely teenagers.
Clay-Flores, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and representatives from the county medical examiner’s office met with Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Mario Búcaro, three Guatemalan consuls, representatives from the Embassy of Mexico and Consul General of El Salvador Fátima Margarita Flores on Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office said Thursday.
The medical examiner’s office said they would release information on the number and nationality of confirmed identities as they become available. Names and identifying information will not be released until their foreign country’s consulate or embassy confirms their next of kin has been notified.
On Tuesday, police arrested Christian Martinez, 28, in Palestine, Texas, alleging he was in contact with Zamorano about the alleged smuggling operation.
Two other men, Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez and Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao, were arrested in connection with the truck deaths on gun charges. They were identified as unauthorized migrants in possession of multiple weapons, according to federal authorities.
The incident unfolded in the southern Texas city on Monday evening at around 5:50 p.m. local time, when a nearby worker heard a cry for help and found the tractor-trailer with the doors partially opened and the bodies of 46 people inside, according to San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus and San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood.
“They suffered, horrendously, could have been for hours,” Hood said.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to New Orleans on Saturday to take part in the Essence Festival of Culture.
According to White House officials, Harris will speak in “a fireside conversation with Emmy-winning actress and leading millennial voice Keke Palmer, where the Vice President will speak to the most critical issues facing Black women, including the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision on [Roe v. Wade].”
“This will be the largest audience the Vice President has addressed since the Court’s decision last Friday,” the officials said.
The Supreme Court on June 24 overturned the landmark ruling that legalized abortion access nationwide for the past five decades.
Harris responded to the repeal of Roe that day, stating it was “the first time in the history of our nation that a constitutional right has been taken from the people of America.”
“This is a health care crisis, because understand, millions of women in America will go to bed tonight without access to the health care and reproductive care that they had this morning; without access to the same healthcare or reproductive healthcare that their mothers and grandmothers had for 50 years,” she said during a visit to Plainfield, Illinois.
Harris also said the decision could impact other privacy rights, including precedent on contraception and same-sex marriage.
“The great aspiration of our nation has been to expand freedom, but the expansion of freedom clearly is not inevitable,” the vice president said.
The Biden administration has taken some steps to protect access to care. The Justice Department said it will protect women traveling across state lines for abortion services and Health and Human Services is working to ensure access to federally-approved medication such as contraception and the abortion pill mifepristone.
President Joe Biden met with Democratic governors on Friday to discuss additional efforts to safeguard reproductive care and women’s rights.
But the president has said it’s up to Congress to make Roe federal law, and without a carveout to the Senate filibuster it’s unlikely any attempt to do so by Democrats will fail.
Democratic leaders have also said it’s up to voters to elect more representatives who support abortion rights.
“You have the power to elect leaders who will defend and protect your rights,” Harris said last week.
The Essence Festival of Culture kicked off on Thursday and will run through Sunday, featuring performances by Kevin Hart, Nicki Minak, Janet Jackson and more.
Harris, the first female and Black vice president, last spoke at the festival in 2019, when she was running for the Democratic nomination for president.
While in New Orleans, Harris will also meet privately with leaders of reproductive justice organizations.
