TV News LIES

Federal immigration agents detained an employee of the New York City council on Monday, sparking outrage from the city’s leaders and renewed rebukes against the Trump administration’s immigration actions.

“This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement on X. “I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”

The employee was taken in during a “routine immigration appointment”, according to statements from Mamdani and council speaker, Julie Menin. The council was made aware he had been detained on Monday afternoon, after the employee called the council’s human resources department for help, ABC News reported.

Federal immigration agents detained an employee of the New York City council on Monday, sparking outrage from the city’s leaders and renewed rebukes against the Trump administration’s immigration actions.

Menin did not name the employee, but said he was legally in the US and had authorization to remain in the country through October 2026. She said the council was working to secure his release, and called the action “overreach”.

“Across the nation, we have seen aggressive escalations by ICE that raise serious concerns on the use of excessive force and a lack of accountability,” she said. “As New Yorkers, we will stand up for the rights and dignity of every neighbor.”

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Minnesota and Illinois, two states targeted by the Trump administration for immigration enforcement, sued Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, aiming to curb the agency’s crackdown after a woman was shot and killed by a federal agent last week.

Officials in Minnesota are seeking to stop Homeland Security agents from deploying to the state over the objections of Gov. Tim Walz and the mayors of the Twin Cities. Illinois attorneys are asking the court to bar federal agents from using the controversial tactics employed in their crackdown on the Chicago area.

The court filings come comes as hundreds more federal agents are being sent to Minnesota, the Trump administration said, as furor grows over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the deployments amounted to a "federal invasion."

"People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close. Minnesota police are spending countless hours dealing with the chaos ICE is causing," Ellison said in a statement. "This federal invasion of the Twin Cities has to stop, so today I am suing DHS to bring it to an end."

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The National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC has removed a placard that referred to Donald Trump’s two impeachments and his supporters’ January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to multiple news reports.

The museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, removed the text when it replaced an old portrait of Trump with a new image of him standing in the Oval Office with a scowl and his fists on the desk.

“Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials,” the former caption stated.

In May, Trump said he had fired the gallery’s director, Kim Sajet, describing her as a “highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position”. The museum’s board of regents rejected the attempt, citing its control over personnel decisions, but Sajet ultimately resigned.

The National Portrait Gallery did not respond to a request for comment.

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Shortly after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison heard something unusual was happening: Federal agents were not going to share their investigative file with their state counterparts.

“It was at least 24 hours before people started publicly saying it,” Ellison said, declining to outline exactly how he heard about the federal denial, which occurred after an initial agreement for the FBI to work with the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to jointly investigate the shooting. “We started hearing they’re not going to release it. They’re going to exclude state authorities from the bullets, the gun, the crime scene.”

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Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed Friday that Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras do appear to have connections to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that began in a prison and has since expanded internationally. “They do have some nexus to involvement with TdA,” Day said. “We can confirm that.”

Day said a “self-identified Venezuelan immigrant” who was the victim of a July shooting told police the suspects were members of the gang. He did not name Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras as a suspect in the July shooting, or offer further details about how the two were involved. Day also said that ZambrMore...ano-Contreras had been cited for prostitution in Washington County, and that Moncada was on hand when police served a warrant in that case.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released the identities of two Venezuelan nationals shot by Border Patrol agents in Portland Thursday afternoon. They’re identified as Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras.

DHS said in a statement that the pair are affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang in Venezuela and had criminal histories in the U.S.

OPB could not immediately confirm the allegations.

The Portland Police Bureau had no comment on the federal government’s allegations. As of Friday morning, no federal charges had been filed against Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras.

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The Washington National Opera announced Friday that it had decided to end its arrangement with the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital, though it said it was hoping for an “amicable transition.”

“To ensure fiscal prudence and fulfill its obligations for a balanced budget, the WNO will reduce its spring season and relocate performances to new venues,” the Opera said in a statement.

It said the decision stemmed from the Center’s new business model, which “requires productions to be fully funded in advance — a requirement incompatible with opera operations.”

Kennedy Center spokesperst incompatible with opera operations.”on Roma Daravi told The New York Times, “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the WNO due to a financially challenging relationship.

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