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Monday, June 16, 2025

Trump Orders ICE To Expand Illegal Immigrant Deportation Efforts

President Donald Trump on Sunday directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to expand efforts to detain and deport illegal immigrants in the country.

In a Truth Social post, Trump urged ICE officers to do everything they can to carry out what he described as the “largest mass deportation operation of illegal aliens in history,” particularly in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where many illegal immigrants are concentrated.

Protests have erupted in those cities in recent days, with thousands of protesters marching toward ICE facilities in protest against federal immigration enforcement efforts. In some locations, the protests resulted in injuries as demonstrators clashed with law enforcement.

Trump noted that ICE officers face violence and threats from opponents of the operation, but emphasized that nothing will deter his administration from fulfilling its mandate.

The president said he had directed his administration to put “every resource possible behind this effort,” while offering his unwavering support for ICE in executing the mission.

“Our federal government will continue to be focused on the remigration of aliens to the places from where they came, and preventing the admission of anyone who undermines the domestic tranquility of the United States,” he stated.

On June 12, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the state of New York over its state policies that prevent federal immigration officials from arresting immigrants at courthouses.

The suit was the latest in a series of actions the DOJ has brought, alleging that sanctuary jurisdictions thwart federal authority. In New York state, the department has filed two other lawsuits: one challenging the city of Rochester and another targeting the state’s restriction on sharing information through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“Lawless sanctuary city policies are the root cause of the violence that Americans have seen in California, and New York State is similarly employing sanctuary city policies to prevent illegal aliens from apprehension,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

Trump suggested on June 12 that his administration would issue an order tackling the issue of illegal immigrants who work in agriculture, hospitality, and other industries, stating that his immigration policy could impact the workforce in these sectors.

“Our great farmers and people in the hotel and leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” he stated. “Changes are coming!”

Protests against ICE raids began in Los Angeles on June 6, stemming from the arrest of dozens of immigrants as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation.

Trump has authorized the deployment of the National Guards and Marines to quell riots in the city, despite objections from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the move “a serious breach of state sovereignty.”

People protest in Los Angeles on June 14, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

On June 14, thousands of protesters marched and rallied in cities from New York to Los Angeles, demonstrating against Trump’s actions.

In Los Angeles, police issued dispersal orders after the protests turned violent, with rocks and bricks reportedly thrown at law enforcement officers.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated on June 14 that rioters in Portland, Oregon, used fireworks, hurled smoke grenades, and threw rocks at law enforcement before storming an ICE facility.

Four officers were injured during the protest. The department said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has warned rioters that ICE will not stop or delay immigration enforcement despite the protests.

“ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law. If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the DHS stated.

Saturday’s nationwide rallies were held the same day as a military parade in Washington marking the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincided with Trump’s birthday.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-orders-ice-expand-illegal-immigrant-deportation-efforts

'Likely all machines at Iran's main enrichment plant 'severely damaged', IAEA chief says'

It is very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told the BBC on Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and its Director General Rafael Grossi had previously said the centrifuges at the underground enrichment plant at Natanz may have been damaged as a result of an airstrike on its power supply, even though the hall housing the plant itself did not seem to have been hit.

"Our assessment is that with this sudden loss of external power, in great probability the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether," Grossi said in an interview with the BBC.

"I think there has been damage inside," he said, going further than in an update to an exceptional meeting of his agency's 35-nation Board of Governors hours earlier.

Power cuts pose a threat to the fragile, finely balanced machines that spin at extremely high speeds.

Israel's airstrikes have put at least two of Iran's three operating uranium enrichment plants out of action. The above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz was destroyed, Grossi repeated in his update to the board.

Grossi told the board no damage was seen at the separate Fordow enrichment plant dug deep into a mountain, later telling the BBC: "There is very limited if any damage registered (there)".

While the IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections since the attacks, it makes extensive use of satellite imagery.

Grossi elaborated on the damage to four buildings at the Isfahan nuclear complex, including a uranium-conversion facility that turns "yellowcake" uranium into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for centrifuges, so it can be enriched to higher fissile purity.

"Four buildings were damaged in Friday's attack: the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and the UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) to EU (enriched uranium) metal processing facility, which was under construction," he said.

Grossi later went further, telling the BBC: "In Isfahan you have underground spaces as well, which do not seem to have been affected."

A senior diplomat told Reuters those underground spaces are where much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stock is stored, but it will require closer examination to fully assess the situation there.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/likely-all-machines-at-irans-main-enrichment-plant-severely-damaged-iaea-chief-says

Suspect in Minnesota lawmaker killing visited other legislators' homes, prosecutors say

The suspect accused of assassinating a Minnesota lawmaker and shooting another this weekend drove to the homes of at least four state politicians as part of a carefully planned attack, federal authorities said on Monday.

Vance Boelter, 57, faces state and federal charges of murder after he was arrested on Sunday night following a massive two-day manhunt that was the largest in state history.

He is charged with fatally shooting Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, in their home on Saturday. Boelter is also accused of shooting and wounding another Democratic lawmaker, state Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette, in their home a few miles away.

Prosecutors said Boelter visited the homes of two other lawmakers on Saturday while disguised as a police officer, apparently targeting more victims. Investigators discovered a list in his car that included the names of dozens of legislators, mostly or all Democrats.

Boelter was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder in Hennepin County. The county's chief prosecutor, Mary Moriarty, said at a news conference on Monday that her office would seek first-degree murder charges, which carry a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Federal prosecutors separately charged Boelter with an array of crimes, including murder, which could lead to a death sentence.

"Political assassinations are rare," Joseph Thompson, Minnesota's acting U.S. attorney, said at a news conference on Monday. "They strike at the very core of our democracy."

Boelter is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court on Monday afternoon.

The Minnesota attacks began around 2 a.m. on Saturday, when a gunman wearing a police-style tactical vest and a "hyper realistic silicone mask" knocked on the Hoffmans' door in Champlin, announced himself as a police officer and then shot the couple multiple times inside, according to prosecutors.

He was driving an SUV outfitted with police-style lights and a fake license plate that read "POLICE."

Boelter then traveled to the home of another state lawmaker in Maple Grove, where he rang the doorbell at 2:24 a.m., Thompson said. The official, whom prosecutors did not name, was not home.

Boelter also visited the home of a state Senator in New Hope, prosecutors said. A New Hope officer - dispatched to the house to conduct a wellness check after police learned of the Hoffman shooting - took Boelter, who was parked outside, to be another police officer and pulled up next to him.

"He just sat there and stared straight ahead," Thompson said of Boelter. The responding officer went to the door to wait for additional officers, and Boelter had left by the time they arrived, prosecutors said.

Shortly after, police went to the Hortmans' house in Brooklyn Park as a precaution. The arriving officers saw the suspect shoot Mark Hortman through an open door around 3:35 a.m. and exchanged fire with him before he fled on foot out the back door, according to prosecutors.

Melissa Hortman was already dead inside.

When police searched Boelter's SUV after the shootings, they discovered three AK-47 assault rifles, a 9-mm handgun, a gold police-style badge and the target list, according to authorities.

MASSIVE MANHUNT

Notebooks recovered from Boelter's car, as well as the home where he had been staying, showed that he had meticulously planned the attacks for some time, prosecutors said.

He had the names and, in some cases, home addresses for more than 45 elected officials, "mostly or all Democrats," according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. Boelter's notes indicated he had used a variety of people-finding websites to track down addresses.

In one notebook, Boelter noted that the Hortmans had two children and included details about their house, writing, "Big house off golf course 2 ways in to watch from one spot," the affidavit said.

Hours after the shootings, with police searching for him, Boelter met an individual at a bus stop in Minneapolis and offered to buy his electric bicycle, according to prosecutors. After the two went to the person's house, Boelter instead offered to buy his Buick.

Investigators on Sunday found the Buick in rural Sibley County, near his listed home address about an hour's drive southwest of Minneapolis. Inside the car, officers found a handwritten letter to the FBI, in which Boelter gave his name and admitted to committing the shootings, according to the affidavit.

More than 20 SWAT teams combed the area, aided by surveillance aircraft, officials said. Boelter, who was armed, crawled from a wooded area and surrendered to police in a field with no shots fired.

The killing was the latest in a series of high-profile episodes of political violence across the country, including a 2022 attack on former Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband at their home, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last year and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's house in April.

"This cannot be the norm," Governor Tim Walz said after Boelter's arrest. "It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences."

Klobuchar shared on social media a text message from Yvette Hoffman on Sunday evening that said her husband, John, was "enduring many surgeries right now." He was shot nine times, and she was shot eight times, the message said.

"We are both incredibly lucky to be alive," she wrote. "We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark."

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/suspect-in-minnesota-lawmaker-killing-visited-other-legislators-homes-prosecutors-say

G-7 Works to Secure Critical Minerals in Face of China Curbs

The Group of Seven leading economies are working to shore up supplies of critical minerals as they seek to move away from reliance on China for materials used in everything from mobile phones to wind turbines.

G-7 leaders aim to agree to a statement at their meeting in Kananaskis, Canada, to establish an “action plan” to diversify supplies of the vital metals and encourage “immediate and scaled investment” in projects, according to a draft document obtained by Bloomberg. Without mentioning China — which accounts for almost 70% of the world’s production of rare earths — they mentioned the “threat to our economies” of current practices in the sector.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-16/g-7-works-to-secure-critical-minerals-in-face-of-china-curbs

Thousands of Iranians flee Tehran after Israel warns more attacks are coming

Thousands of Iranians are fleeing Tehran after the Israeli military warned civilians to evacuate the capital over more bombardments to come.

Yesterday’s exodus carried on into Monday with traffic jams out of Tehran becoming the norm as panicked citizens rush to avoid the looming airstrikes on the fourth day of missile exchanges between Israel and Iran.

The exodus is mainly driven by the lack of public bomb shelters in Tehran, where residents are expected to wait out the strikes in either their basements or in the subway.

“My parents are scared. Every night there are attacks, no air raid sirens, and no shelters to go to,” fleeing resident Arishia, 29, told Reuters. “Why are we paying the price for the Islamic Republic’s hostile policies?”

Tehran’s words, however, have done little to reassure its citizens as many fear they’ll run out of time to evacuate before the next set of missiles hit.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/16/world-news/thousands-of-iranians-flee-tehran-after-israel-warns-more-attacks-are-coming/