TV News LIES

Amir Makled thought he was being racially profiled. A Lebanese American who was born and raised in Detroit, the attorney was returning home from a family vacation in the Dominican Republic when he said an immigration official at the Detroit Metro airport asked for a “TTRT” agent after scanning his passport on Sunday. Makled said the expression on the agent’s face changed. He felt something “odd” was happening.

“So I Googled what TTRT meant. I didn’t know,” Makled said. “And what I found out was it meant Tactical Terrorism Response Team. So immediately I knew they’re gonna take me in for questioning. And that’s when I felt like I was being racially profiled or targeted because I am Arab.”

But it quickly became apparent, Makled said, that the stop was different from the type of so-called random stop Muslims and Arab-Americans have become accustomed to at US airports. The plainclothes immigration officer said he knew who Makled was and what he did for a living, according to the lawyer; agents wanted to search his phone.

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The Social Security Administration this week classified more than 6,000 living immigrants as dead in a move directed by the Trump administration, according to a White House official.

The move, as reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post, classified the immigrants into the Social Security Administration’s "death master file,” which contains records of deceased individuals who possessed social security numbers. Moving them in the file means that those individuals' numbers would be invalidated and they would lose access to financial services.

Both the NYT and Reuters reported that the immigrants had previously been legally admitted to the U.S., but since had their temporary status revoked. The Department of Homeland Security identified these individuals as having criminal records or on the terrorist watch list, the White House official said.

The Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, played a role in the effort, according to the NYT and the Post.

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The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has told the BBC that Gaza has become "hell on earth", as Israel's military assault there continues.

Mirjana Spoljaric's comments come on the same day the UN human rights office warned that Israel's tactics were threatening the viability of Palestinians continuing to live in Gaza at all.

The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions - internationally agreed rules of conduct in war - and normally only speaks confidentially to warring parties when it thinks violations are taking place.

But Ms Spoljaric has now said publicly that what is happening in Gaza is an "extreme hollowing out" of international law.

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Mahmoud Khalil’s attorneys on Thursday blasted a court filing from Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming he has the ability to remove noncitizens for their speech and beliefs, a filing that came after an immigration judge demanded the government present evidence against the former Columbia University student as it seeks to deport him.

In his memo, obtained by The Associated Press, Rubio cited a rarely used provision of law that says the secretary of State can deport a noncitizen if they pose a threat to foreign policy.

Rubio argues if Khalil remains in the country, it would harm “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”

The memo came after Louisiana Judge Jamee Comans ordered the federal government on Wednesday to produce evidence against Khalil within 24 hours, saying she would make a ruling on whether or not he could be deported on Friday.

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Russell T Davies has said gay society is in the “greatest danger I have ever seen”, since the election of Donald Trump as US president in November.

Speaking to the Guardian at the Gaydio Pride awards in Manchester on Friday, the Doctor Who screenwriter said the rise in hostility was not limited to the US but “is here [in the UK] now”.

“As a gay man, I feel like a wave of anger, and violence, and resentment is heading towards us on a vast scale,” he said.