INTERNACIONAL
‘Lawless and insane’: Trump admin readies for fight after judges block Abrego Garcia removal for now
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A trio of judges slowed the Trump administration’s effort Wednesday to immediately deport Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia for a second time, in a series of back-to-back court orders that were praised by Abrego’s attorneys — but had Trump officials posturing for a fight.
The orders came in a span of 90 minutes from the U.S. districts of Tennessee and Maryland and halted, for now, the Trump administration’s stated plans to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest Abrego Garcia and immediately begin removal proceedings to deport him to a third country, such as Mexico or South Sudan. Justice Department officials acknowledged that plan in court earlier this month, telling a federal judge in Maryland that the handoff from U.S. marshals to ICE officials would likely take place outside the federal prison where Abrego Garcia is currently being held.
Those fears were bolstered further after senior Trump administration officials took to social media Wednesday to rail against the string of court rulings. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin vowed on X Wednesday that Abrego Garcia «will never walk America’s streets again.»
«The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can’t arrest an MS-13 gang member, indicted by a grand jury for human trafficking, and subject to immigration arrest under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE,» she said.
‘WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT’: US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO
President Donald Trump, accompanied by Pam Bondi, speaks before Bondi is sworn in as U.S. Attorney General in the Oval Office at the White House. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The remarks prompted fresh concerns from immigration advocates, as well as lawyers for Abrego Garcia and his family.
«We have heightened, ongoing concerns about the Trump administration’s compliance with any and all those involved» in the case, Chris Newman, an attorney who represents Abrego Garcia’s family, told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday after the orders.
His concerns came despite the string of near-term victories for Abrego Garcia, aimed at affording him due process and access to counsel ahead of his removal.
In Nashville, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw on Wednesday ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from criminal custody pending trial, writing in a 37-page ruling that the federal government «fails to provide any evidence that there is something in Abrego’s history, or his exhibited characteristics, that warrants detention.»
He also poured cold water on the dozens of allegations made by Trump officials, including by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in Nashville last week, that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member.
«Based on the record before it, for the court to find that Abrego is member of or in affiliation with MS13, it would have to make so many inferences from the government’s proffered evidence in its favor that such conclusion would border on fanciful,» he said.
SUPREME COURT FREEZES ORDER TO RETURN MAN FROM EL SALVADOR PRISON
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center on March 26, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes, tasked with implementing that order, stayed Abrego Garcia’s release from criminal detention for 30 days, a request made by his attorneys earlier this week.
Two minutes after Judge Crenshaw’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, the judge overseeing his civil case in Maryland, issued an emergency order blocking the administration from immediately taking Abrego Garcia into ICE custody, citing concerns he would otherwise be removed immediately and without due process.
She also ordered that Abrego Garcia be sent to the ICE Order of Supervision at the Baltimore Field Office, and that the Trump administration notify Abrego Garcia and his counsel of any plans to remove him to a third country 72 hours in advance, to ensure access to counsel and to challenge the country of removal.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia praised the court orders Wednesday, though they stressed there is a long road ahead — and one that remains fraught with uncertainty.
«These rulings are a powerful rebuke of the government’s lawless conduct and a critical safeguard for Kilmar’s due process rights,» Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, said Wednesday.
However, Abrego Garcia’s case has been the center of a monthslong legal maelstrom and is one that critics argue has allowed the Trump administration to test its mettle on immigration enforcement and its ability to slow-walk or evade compliance with federal courts.
Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to protest the Trump administration’s deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador in March in what administration officials said was an administrative error. (Breanne Deppisch/Fox News Digital)
Whether the administration will appeal the orders Wednesday, or otherwise honor them, remains to be seen.
The Supreme Court has in recent months sided with the Trump administration on a number of key court cases, as well as a flurry of emergency orders, suggesting they could move for emergency intervention at that level.
Though justices on the high court ordered unanimously that the Trump administration facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. earlier from El Salvador this year, it’s unclear whether they would intervene at this point to head off the administration’s planned removal. Any challenge to the Tennessee orders, including the 30-day stay, would also be heard by the conservative-majority U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which could block the lower court orders from taking force.
Others noted the Trump administration’s posture in recent immigration cases, including in the wake of their removal of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT prison earlier this year.
Critics argue the Trump administration has been slow, or downright recalcitrant, to comply with court orders — and their actions prompted two judges in Washington, D.C., and Maryland to threaten potential contempt proceedings earlier this year. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s April ruling, which found there was probable cause to hold the administration in contempt for violating his order blocking them from using a wartime law to deport migrants to CECOT, was stayed by a federal appeals court.
On the other hand, Trump officials have railed against the «activist» judges, who they argue have blocked their agenda and overstepped their court powers.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia and his family say they are clear-eyed about the administration and expected attempts to challenge the orders, even while the details of the efforts remain unclear.
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«It’s now a matter of public record that their posture since the beginning is to say, ‘F— you’ to the courts,» Newman, the lawyer for Abrego Garcia’s family, said in an interview.
«So, to say that we are being vigilant about potential bad faith efforts by the Trump administration would be an understatement,» he said.
INTERNACIONAL
“No es ninguna amnistía”: el dirigente opositor Juan Pablo Guanipa fue liberado y cuestionó la nueva ley
Juan Pablo Guanipa, uno de los principales referentes de la oposición venezolana y quien es visto como mano derecha de María Corina Machado, recibió libertad plena durante la madrugada de este viernes. El propio Guanipa lo informó a través de su perfil en X (@JuanPGuanipa).
Guanipa ya había sido excarcelado una primera vez en tiempo reciente. Sin embargo, 12 horas después, fue detenido y condenado a prisión domiciliaria. Tras la aprobación de la Ley de Amnistía por la Asamblea Nacional (AN, Congreso), el referente de la oposición es uno de los primeros en tener libertad plena.
Leé también: Familiares de presos políticos en Venezuela iniciaron una huelga de hambre frente a una cárcel de Caracas
“La liberación de presos políticos no es ningún acto de clemencia”
“Tras 10 meses en clandestinidad y casi nueve meses de injusto encarcelamiento, confirmo que estoy en libertad plena”, escribió Guanipa en su publicación. Luego, fue crítico con la aprobación de la denominada oficialmente Ley de Amnistía para la Convivencia Democrática. “Lo aprobado hoy (este jueves) en el Palacio Legislativo no es ninguna amnistía. Es un documento chucuto que pretende chantajear a muchos venezolanos inocentes y que excluye a varios hermanos que siguen injustamente tras las rejas”, dijo.
Y agregó: “La liberación de presos políticos no es ningún acto de clemencia. Ninguno de ellos debió estar preso. La dictadura los secuestró tratando de quebrar el espíritu del pueblo venezolano, pero no pudieron”.
En la publicación, Guanipa contextualizó su reclamo: “Los centros de tortura en Venezuela siguen abiertos, cientos de venezolanos siguen en el exilio, las leyes que usan para reprimir siguen vigentes y hay decenas de oficiales de nuestra Fuerza Armada Nacional que siguen presos por alzar la voz frente al saqueo de nuestra patria”.
Leé también: Venezuela: el gobierno interino de Delcy Rodríguez eliminó siete programas clave del chavismo El comunicado de Juan Pablo Guanipa, tras haber sido liberado. (Foto: X/@JuanPGuanipa).
Las críticas a la Ley de Amnistía aprobada por la AN de Venezuela
Guanipa no es la única voz que critica la recién aprobada Ley de Amnistía en Venezuela. Distintos opositores venezolanos consideraron que es “insuficiente y sesgada” al contemplar solo coyunturas políticas específicas ocurridas entre 2002 y 2025.
“La ley aprobada hoy es insuficiente y sesgada, no podemos descansar ni ceder en los esfuerzos por la defensa de la libertad y una verdadera justicia transicional”, señaló el partido Primero Justicia (PJ) en una publicación en X.
Asimismo, indicó que no hay amnistía verdadera cuando las liberaciones dependen de los “mismos verdugos que persiguen inocentes”. PJ sostuvo que si la voluntad del Gobierno de Delcy Rodríguez es real, las liberaciones de los presos políticos podrían hacerse de inmediato y “no sería dilatada por debates estériles y procedimientos fingidos”.
“Una verdadera amnistía debe pasar por el desmontaje absoluto del sistema represor, tener mecanismos de reparación para las víctimas y garantías claras para la no repetición”, indicó la organización. Por su parte, la exdiputada Delsa Solórzano, quien recientemente salió de la clandestinidad, dijo en X que la cantidad de exclusiones en la ley son significativas.
Solórzano criticó que el texto no contemple la derogación de otras leyes, como la del odio, que “son usadas como instrumento de persecución política”. Pedro Urruchurtu, director de relaciones internacionales del partido Vente Venezuela, liderado por María Corina Machado, señaló en X que la ley es una excusa para ganar tiempo, “distraer y manipular, como los criminales que son”. Además, agregó: “No liberan a los presos políticos porque no les da la gana, no porque necesiten una ley”. Marina Saldivia, familiar de un detenido, reacciona frente al centro de detención de la Zona 7 de la Policía Nacional, tras la aprobación por parte de la Asamblea Nacional de la Ley de Amnistía, este jueves 19 de febrero de 2026. (Foto: REUTERS/Gaby Oraa).
“Es una ley bastante restrictiva”
Tamara Sujú, abogada defensora de Derechos Humanos y Directora Ejecutiva de Casla Institute, también cuestionó la ley a través de X (@Tamara_Suju). Para Sujú, la AN aprobó “un panfleto al que llaman Ley de “Amnistía” que deja por fuera a todos los acusados de rebelión, civiles y militares. Es decir, las 3/4 partes de los presos políticos que siguen en prisión. No existe un delito más político que este».
Para Alfredo Romero, Director de la ONG Foro Penal, una de las principales organizaciones que ha hecho seguimiento a las detenciones y excarcelaciones de presos políticos, indicó (@alfredoromero): “Es una ley bastante restrictiva y excluye a un sector importante de personas que son perseguidas políticas, que están detenidas; incluso, muchos de ellos, arbitrariamente”.
Por su parte, Liliana Ortega, defensora de Derechos Humanos y cofundadora del Comité de Familiares de Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989 (COFAVIC), indicó (@LilianaOrtegaM) que “las amnistías solo son válidas en sus propósitos de reconciliación y paz si cumplen los estándares previstos en el Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos e incluyen los derechos de las víctimas. Ningún proceso de reconciliación es sostenible si se construye sobre la negación de los derechos de las víctimas”.
Venezuela, amnistia, presos políticos en Venezuela, María Corina Machado, Delcy Rodriguez
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FIRST ON FOX: Last year, when President Donald Trump helped broker a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, he took a victory lap.
«Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war between two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’» he said.
Now, that agreement appears under strain. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told Fox News Digital that Thai forces have pushed into long-held Cambodian territory beyond the line of dispute. Thai soldiers have sealed off villages with barbed wire and shipping containers, leaving 80,000 Cambodians unable to return home, according to Cambodian officials.
«The occupation is beyond even Thailand’s unilateral claim,» Manet said. «Many of the villagers cannot go back to their hometowns.»
US ALERTS TOURISTS OF ‘UNPREDICTABLE SECURITY SITUATION’ IN POPULAR HOLIDAY DESTINATION
Cambodia and Thailand have sparred for decades over sections of their 500-mile land border, much of which was drawn during the French colonial era and later interpreted differently by Bangkok and Phnom Penh. The dispute has periodically flared into armed clashes, particularly around areas near historic Khmer temple sites and rural villages where demarcation remains incomplete.
Tensions escalated again last year, with fighting breaking out along contested stretches of the frontier and displacing thousands of civilians on both sides. The clashes prompted diplomatic intervention and culminated in a ceasefire agreement brokered with U.S. involvement during an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.
Images and local reporting from the most recent fighting show damage to buildings near the frontier, including at or near the UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple complex, raising concerns about the safety of cultural heritage sites in contested zones. Cambodian officials have blamed Thai forces for the damage, while Thai officials have denied deliberately targeting religious or cultural landmarks, saying military operations were limited to contested security areas.
The Thai embassy could not be reached for comment on this interview.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet interviewed with Fox News Digital during a trip to Washington, D.C., for President Trump’s Board of Peace. (Fox News Digital)
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Still, Manet declined to threaten military retaliation.
«Our position is to always stick to peaceful resolutions,» he said. «We don’t believe that using war to stop a war is sustainable or practical.»
Thailand, with a population of more than 70 million — roughly four times Cambodia’s 17 million — maintains a significantly larger and better-equipped military, raising the stakes of any renewed conflict.
With fighting again threatening fragile stability along the frontier, Manet traveled to Washington this week for the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace.
«The Board of Peace can play an active role in promoting peace, stability and normalcy between Cambodia and Thailand,» Manet said.
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Hun Manet took office in 2023, succeeding his father, Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades. The leadership transition marked the first formal handover of power in decades, though the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has maintained firm control over the country’s political system amid longstanding criticism from rights groups about limits on opposition activity.
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Manet has sought to maintain close ties with China while cautiously reopening channels with Washington, including restoring joint military exercises that had been suspended in 2017.
As Cambodia navigates tensions with Thailand, it is also balancing relations between Washington and Beijing.
The Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, where cluster munitions, unexploded artillery shells and other ordnance are marked around the temple grounds, after clashes between the two countries, in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Feb. 12, 2026. (Soveit Yarn/Reuters)
Manet said navigating ties with competing world powers «doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game» and that Cambodia, as a smaller nation, cannot afford to «choose one country against the other.»
That balance has centered in part on Ream Naval Base, a strategic site on Cambodia’s southern coast rebuilt with Chinese financing.
The USS Cincinnati docked at Ream in late January, marking the first U.S. warship visit since the base was renovated with Chinese funding and technical support. The visit was marked by a striking visual, the USS Cincinnati docked roughly 150 meters from a Chinese naval vessel already moored at the base. For years, U.S. officials have raised concerns that Cambodia had granted China exclusive access.
But Manet insisted the base remains under Cambodian control.
«Our constitution says that no foreign military base [can] be situated on Cambodian soil,» Manet said.
Images and local reporting from the most recent fighting show damage to buildings near the frontier, including at or near the UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple complex, raising concerns about the safety of cultural heritage sites in contested zones. (Soveit Yarn/Reuters)
Manet said navigating ties with competing world powers «doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game» and that Cambodia, as a smaller nation, cannot afford to «choose one country against the other.» (Samrang Pring/Reuters)
The U.S. visit, he said, «clearly shows that Cambodia is not exclusively used as a naval base for cooperation with China.»
Manet also confirmed that annual U.S.-Cambodia military exercises known as Angkor Sentinel, suspended in 2017, will resume this year, signaling warming defense ties.
«We hope to have expanding cooperation with the U.S.,» Manet said.
In recent years, Cambodia has emerged as a hub for large-scale online scam operations, including so-called «pig butchering» schemes that have defrauded victims worldwide — including Americans — out of billions of dollars. U.S. authorities have sanctioned Cambodian-linked entities tied to crypto fraud and pressed Phnom Penh to intensify enforcement efforts amid concerns about trafficking and forced labor linked to some compounds.
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Manet said his government has stepped up cooperation with U.S. authorities and recently worked with the FBI to dismantle a major operation.
«We have recently worked with the FBI cracking on a major case involving one of the Oknyaks,» he said, referring to an influential Cambodian figure. «We arrested him, and we closed down one of the big compounds.»
conflicts defense,asia,foreign policy,donald trump
INTERNACIONAL
Zelenskyy dismisses Putin’s ‘historical s—’ in peace talks as ‘delay tactic,’ urges focus on ending the war
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday dismissed what he described as Vladimir Putin’s «historical s—,» saying he has no interest in debating the past and wants peace talks focused squarely on ending the war.
In a pointed post on X, Zelenskyy described Russia’s historical arguments as a «delay tactic,» accusing Moscow of using them to stall meaningful negotiations. He argued the only issue worth discussing with Putin is how to bring the war to a swift and successful end.
Putin has long made claims about the history of Ukraine and Russia, including a 2021 piece he wrote that discussed his position that «Russians and Ukrainians were one people» and that the two countries are «essentially the same historical and spiritual space.» Zelenskyy said debates about history will not accomplish the goal of reaching peace, and will only prolong the process of reaching a resolution.
«I have been to Russia – to many cities. And I knew a lot of people there. He [Putin] has never been to Ukraine this many times. He was only in big cities. I went to small cities. From the northern part to the southern part. Everywhere. I know their mentality. That’s why I don’t want to lose time on all these things,» Zelenskyy wrote.
PUTIN REJECTS KEY PARTS OF US PEACE PLAN AS KREMLIN OFFICIAL WARNS EUROPE FACES NEW WAR RISK: REPORT
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both met separately with President Donald Trump. Despite a peace deal agreement being close, territorial disputes remain, Zelenskyy said. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP; Christian Bruna/Getty)
The remarks came after another round of trilateral talks between Ukrainian, U.S. and Russian officials in Switzerland; meetings the Ukrainian president suggested he had produced limited progress.
«As of today, we cannot say that the outcome of the meetings in Geneva is sufficient,» Zelenskyy explained, saying that while military representatives had discussed certain issues «seriously and substantively,» sensitive political matters, possible compromises and a potential meeting between leaders have not yet been adequately worked through.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS THREATEN TO FORCE RUSSIA SANCTIONS VOTE AFTER GIVING LEADERSHIP ‘ONE LAST CHANCE’
A Ukrainian delegation (right) and Russian delegation (left) wait for the start of a meeting on the first day of the third round of trilateral talks between delegates from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 17, 2026. (Press Service Of The National Security And Defence Council Of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte questioned at the Munich Security Conference last week whether Russia is serious about negotiations, noting that Moscow again sent presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who has previously emphasized historical narratives in talks, to lead discussions in Geneva.
Medinsky characterized the two days of negotiations as «difficult but businesslike,» according to a translation of his remarks from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
RUSSIA GETS PARALYMPIC SPOTS UNDER NATIONAL FLAG; UKRAINE OFFICIALS BOYCOTT OVER ‘OUTRAGEOUS DECISION’
Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky leaves after a second round of U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on Feb. 18, 2026. (Harold Cunningham/AFP via Getty Images)
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NBC News reported that Medinsky, who has served as a Kremlin aide since 2020, is regarded as a close Putin ally whose views on Ukrainian history closely align with the Russian president’s.
«It would seem obvious to anyone familiar with history at the primary school level: Russians and Ukrainians are historically — one people,» he wrote in a November op-ed for the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
volodymyr zelenskyy,vladimir putin,ukraine,russia
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