DOJ investigates claims of inhumane treatment of migrants in Texas – National & International News – FRI 21Jul2023

DOJ investigates claims of inhumane treatment of migrants in Texas.

Judge sets 2024 trial date for Trump classified docs case.

State Department: Soldier who crossed into N. Korea didn’t want to return to US.

NATIONAL NEWS

DOJ investigates claims of inhumane treatment of migrants in Texas

The Department of Justice is investigating reports of inhumane treatment of migrants at the border by Texas guardsmen and other officials. The Houston Chronical obtained an email from an unnamed state trooper to a superior officer regarding interactions with migrants crossing the border at Eagle Pass between June 24 and July 1. Among other things, the trooper alludes to orders to push migrants, including children back into the Rio Grande river and to deny them water. Officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety denies issuing any such orders.

The e-mail also describes an incident in which Texas guardsmen forced back a 4-year-old girl attempting to cross through razor wire. The child later fainted in the extreme heat.

The guardsmen are working border patrol as part of Gov. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, which seeks to arrest and prosecute migrants for violations of state laws like trespassing and vandalism. The Biden administration says Abbott’s operation violates federal jurisdiction over immigration. The Department of Justice is also suing the Texas over the use of floating razor-wire barrel barriers in the Rio Grande.

While state officials have denied the accusations in the e-mails, two pregnant migrants have claimed that border troops denied them water despite recent extreme temperatures.

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Judge sets 2024 trial date for Trump classified docs case

Federal judge Aileen Cannon has set a May 20, 2024 trial date for the classified documents cases against former President Trump. The date is about halfway between a December date requested by the Department of Justice and a request by Trump’s team to postpone the trial until after the 2024 Presidential election. The date will come in the thick of the 2024 election season, after most of the state primaries will have taken place.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

State Department: Soldier who crossed into N. Korea didn’t want to return to US

There are still questions surrounding what drove 23-year-old Army Pvt. Travis King to cross over the border into North Korea earlier this week. Statements from King’s family indicated he had been in mental distress for some time as his young cousin suffered illness and then ultimately passed away in February. King’s uncle said that Pvt. King had become “reckless”, and his recent behavior had landed him in jail in Seoul, South Korea. After his release, he was due to return to the US to face further disciplinary action. But he was able to elude his military police escort and join a group tour to the DMZ, where he then crossed over into North Korea.

State Department officials said earlier this week that they hadn’t spoken to anyone either in North Korea or any other countries involved about the incident, treating it as a straightforward defection. Now, officials say they have reached out to North Korea with no success. They have no word on King’s condition or state of mind.

Officials have said that they believe King didn’t want to return to the US at all for unexplained reasons. Back in September last year, King failed to report for his daily formation and subsequently “refused to return to post or America.” Statements from King’s family suggest they do not believe he was “in his right mind” when he sprinted across the border.

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