Category: Justice

Elon Musk Endorses Trump After Assassination Attempt, Leads Flood of Calls for Secret Service Resignations

Tom Pappert
Elon Musk, Donald Trump

Billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of the social media platform X, endorsed former President Donald Trump on Saturday after a gunman attempted to assassinate the former president during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Musk later called for Secret Service resignations in the wake of the shooting, which left one rally attendee dead and a second injured.

Musk posted a video of the attempted assassination in to X, where he received more than 55 million views at press time, and wrote, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”

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Federal Court Upholds Tennessee Policy Preventing Transgender Individuals from Changing Sex on Birth Certificate

Kaitlin Housler

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled 2-1 to uphold a decades-long Tennessee policy that prohibits changes to a person’s sex on their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity instead of their biological sex at birth.

The policy treats the sex listed on a birth certificate as a historical fact unchangeable by an individual’s transition to a different gender identity.

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Comer Subpoenas Three White House Staffers for Allegedly Covering Biden Mental Decline

Just the News
James Comer and Joe Biden

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three White House staffers on Wednesday alleging they are “running interference” for President Joe Biden over his perceived mental decline.

Biden left many Democrats concerned over his performance at the first presidential debate last month, after he stumbled his way through his responses, which raised questions about his ability to serve as commander-in-chief for another four years.

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Group Funding Lawsuit by Georgia Realtor Vows to ‘Stop Cancel Culture’ by Helping Americans ‘Defend Themselves’

Tom Pappert
Doug Turpin

The founder of Coalition for Liberty, the organization funding a lawsuit brought by a Georgia realtor who was fired after making a public speech about sexually explicit materials in public libraries, told The Georgia Star News that cancel culture will be defeated when activists learn “everyday Americans” have the support of groups like his.

Coalition for Liberty is funding the lawsuit filed by Julie Mauck against LGBT activists and an activist organization, which she states made false claims about her July 2023 speech in opposition to the reading materials.

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Wisconsin Father Accused of Fatally Stabbing His Two Children was in U.S. Illegally from Mexico

Just the News
Victor Manuel Gomez Acosta

A man accused of fatally stabbing his two children and injuring his wife in a Wisconsin town was living in the United States illegally, Just the News confirmed  Thursday.

Victor Manuel Gomez Acosta has been charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and attempted homicide. His bond is set at $1 million and his first court date is scheduled for July 30.

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Over $1 Million in Fentanyl Pills Confiscated by Local Arizona Police

The Center Square
Mesa Fentanyl Seizure

Major fentanyl seizures are not exclusive to just border authorities, as $1.2 million worth of the deadly drug was confiscated by the Mesa Police Department on Independence Day.

The seizure of roughly 750,000 blue fentanyl pills weighed around 200 pounds and were put into nearly 60 “bundles” throughout a gold Cadillac. According to the news release, the police were flagged after a call of three people being in a car where ” the driver appeared to be unconscious.” 

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Audits Find Financial Issues with Some Florida Charter Schools

The Center Square
Classroom

The Florida Auditor General’s office has released two reports that detail significant issues and financial trends in the Sunshine State’s charter schools, charter technical career centers and district school boards.

There are 720 charter schools and charter technical career centers operating in Florida, with the majority in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. State law requires these schools to be annually audited by an independent certified public accountant.

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Montana Supreme Court Hears Appeal of Landmark Anti Fossil Fuel Case Won by Youth Climate Activists

Just the News
Montana Supreme Court

The Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in the state’s appeal of a case that is so far one of the only successful climate cases of dozens that activists, states, and local governments have filed against government agencies and oil companies.

The case, Held v. Montana, involves 16 young plaintiffs who were organized by the anti-fossil fuel nonprofit Our Children’s Trust to sue the state of Montana for allegedly violating the kids’ constitutional rights to a clean and healthy environment by permitting oil, gas and coal projects in the state without regard to their impacts on global warming.

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Covenant Killer’s Father Confirmed Vanderbilt University Medical Center ‘Didn’t Tell Us’ About Daughter’s Interest in Columbine

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Ronald Hale, the father of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, confirmed to investigators that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) did not inform his daughter developed an interest in the April 20, 1999 shooting at the Columbine High School in Colorado, according to a transcript of a July 12, 2023 police interview obtained by The Tennessee Star. 

Police documents obtained by The Star previously established that Audrey Hale was a 22-year mental health patient at VUMC, and Ronald and Norma Hale confirmed their daughter was evaluated for commitment for mental health reasons during three separate incidents, including two at VUMC for suicidal ideation.

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Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Won’t Appeal Court Loss in ‘Open Fields’ Doctrine Case

Peter D'Abrosca
Hunter Hollingsworth

After losing an appeal in May, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has decided it will not take its case on the “open fields” doctrine to the Tennessee Supreme Court. 

The case began when Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth found hidden cameras on their property, placed there by TWRA, according to the Institute of Justice, which took on the case. 

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Georgia Realtor and Moms for Liberty Chair Smeared by LGBT Activists Targeted Again After Filing Lawsuit

Tom Pappert

Georgia realtor Julie Mauck was fired by her broker and accused by the Georgia Association of Realtors of engaging in discrimination after she claims a group of cancel culture activists made false claims about her remarks at a July 2023 open meeting at a public library, where she discussed the availability of sexually explicit reading materials for children.

Mauck eventually found a new broker and secured the backing of Coalition for Liberty, a nonprofit that partners with other organizations to help individuals respond to cancel culture, and successfully won an appeal to maintain her license.

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Ohio Representatives Vote to Save U.S. Attorney General Garland from Inherent Contempt of Congress

Christy Kelly
Dave Joyce and Mike Turner in front of US Capitol building (composite image)

Two House of Representatives from Ohio voted against a bill that would have imposed a $10,000 daily fine on Attorney General Merrick Garland for his refusal to provide audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interviews with Special Counsel Robert Hur.

Representatives Dave Joyce (R-OH-14) and Mike Turner (R-OH-10), along with Tom McClintock (R-CA-05 ) and John Duarte (R-CA-13), voted against this bill.

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Attorneys for Parents of Covenant Killer Silent on Possible Will with Potential Instructions for Release of Documents

Tom Pappert
Jeff Mobley and David Raybin

Attorneys who represent Ronald Hale and Norma Hale, the parents of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, did not respond to The Tennessee Star when asked about the killer’s suicide note and a probate court filing, which both appear to suggest the killer left a last will and testament prior to her devastating attack on March 27, 2023.

Neither attorney David Raybin, who represented Ronald Hale and Norma Hale in matters related to the Covenant investigation, nor attorney Jeff Mobley, who represents the killer’s parents in the intestate probate case for Audrey Hale’s estate, replied to a press inquiry from The Star which sought to establish whether the killer left behind a document called a will.

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Covenant Killer’s Childhood Friends Changed Phone Numbers to Cut Contact, Her Mother Told Police

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The parents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale told Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators during a July 12, 2023 interview that two of their daughter’s childhood friends changed their phone numbers to cut contact with the killer in the years prior to her attack on the Covenant School, where she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The Tennessee Star. 

Last month, The Star confirmed it obtained approximately 80 pages of writings left in a journal by Audrey Hale from a source familiar with the investigation, and reported the killer wrote extensively about the death of her middle school basketball teammate Sydney Sims.

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Memphis Police Department Asks for Help Identifying Woman Who Allegedly Shot, Killed Fast Food Employee After Drive-Thru Argument

Peter D'Abrosca
Memphis Drive Thru Crime

The Memphis Police Department (MPD) is asking the public to help identifying a suspect in year another violent crime, this time carried after an argument at a drive-thru window at a fast food restaurant. 

According to MPD:

On July 8, 2024, at approximately 9:10 p.m., officers responded to a shooting at Church’s Chicken at 2963 Park Avenue. A female victim was located and transported to Regional One Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. The victim was working in the business when a female with purple hair driving a teal-colored compact SUV drove through the drive-thru and argued with the victim. The teal-colored SUV drove off the lot, and the victim walked outside of the business to get some air. A few moments later, a gunshot was heard, and the teal-colored SUV was seen on video speeding off the parking lot. The victim was located outside of the business.

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Commentary: The Huge American Sex-Abuse Scandal That Educators Scandalously Suppress

RealClearWire

Every day millions of parents put their children under the care of public school teachers, administrators, and support staff. Their trust, however, is frequently broken by predators in authority in what appears to be the largest ongoing sexual abuse scandal in our nation’s history.

Given the roughly 50 million students in U.S. K-12 schools each year, the number of students who have been victims of sexual misconduct by school employees is probably in the millions each decade, according to multiple studies. Such numbers would far exceed the high-profile abuse scandals that rocked the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America.

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GOP Congressman Loudermilk Says January 6 Panel’s Final Report So ‘Tainted’ Should Be Invalidated

Just the News
Barry Loudermilk

GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk says the House panel of which is chairman has found the final report of the chamber’s Democrat-led Select Committee on the January 6 Capitol Attack is so flawed that it could be invalidated.

“We’re still investigating, but at the same time, we have uncovered enough to where it really invalidates the select committee’s report,” Loudermilk, chairman of the House Admission Subcommittee on Oversight, said Tuesday on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

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Arizona Rancher Charged for Shooting an Illegal Migrant on His Property Scores Final Court Victory

Admin

A rancher previously charged with the fatal shooting of an illegal migrant who encroached on his Arizona ranch will not have to face trial again.

An Arizona Superior Court judge on Tuesday dismissed murder and assault charges against George Alan Kelly “with prejudice,” according to 9 KGUN. This ruling means the rancher cannot face charges again, closing a final chapter in a case that began over a year ago.

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Group Claiming Copyright to Covenant Killer Documents ‘Not Able to Comment’ on Possible Financial Arrangement with Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Tom Pappert
Ed Yarbrough

An attorney who represents The Covenant Children’s Trust, which claims it owns the copyright to the works of Covenant School attacker Audrey Elizabeth Hale, told The Tennessee Star on Wednesday he could not comment on whether his client received any type of financial compensation from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), which treated the killer over 22 years.

The Star contacted attorney Ed Yarbrough, who works at the Spencer Fane firm and represented the Covenant Children’s Trust in the Tennessee lawsuit which sought to compel Metro Nashville to release Hale’s documents, to ask whether his client, the Covenant School, or Covenant Presbyterian Church were approached by VUMC to discuss its potential civil liability over its treatment of Hale.

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U.S. Marshal Tasked with Protecting Justice Sotomayor Shoots Armed Suspected Carjacker

Just the News
Sonia Sotomayor

Members of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s security detail allegedly shot an armed suspected carjacker last week, according to charging documents.

An armed man, identified as Kentrell Flowers, stepped out of a silver van that pulled up near the justice’s residence on July 5, and aimed a gun at an unmarked car that contained two United States Marshals who were tasked with “protecting the residences of U.S. Supreme Court justices,” Politico reported.

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Illegal Alien Who Killed Tennessee Man While Drunk Driving Sentenced to Only Two Years in Prison

Peter D'Abrosca
Israel Martin-Alonzo

An illegal alien from Guatemala who killed a Tennessee man while drunk driving has been sentenced to prison for causing the man’s death.

Israel Martin-Alonzo who was 18 at the time and was driving drunk, struck and killed Hixson man Donald Rackley on July 30, 2018. He was sentenced Tuesday to only two years in prison after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, failure to maintain lane, and DUI.

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Corn Growers Join Petition to SCOTUS Over California Emissions Mandate

The Center Square
Corn Harvester

A coalition of energy, biofuel and agriculture groups – including the Illinois Corn Growers Association – are taking their challenge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions mandate to the nation’s highest court. 

The group filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the EPA’s decision to grant a waiver to California for its 2021-2025 electric vehicle mandate. Illinois lawmakers have considered adopting California’s strict EV policies.  

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center Silent on Possible Liability, Settlements After Treating Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Prior to Attack

Tom Pappert

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) did not respond to a Monday inquiry from The Tennessee Star that sought to establish whether VUMC took any actions to mitigate any possible financial liabilities that may have resulted from its 22-year treatment of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.

The Star contacted VUMC about what actions it may have taken to address possible legal liability after publishing the MNPD document, “Vandy Psych,” which contains notes written by an MNPD investigator who secured at least 75 pages of documents about Hale’s treatment at VUMC after obtaining a search warrant.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Created Duplicate Materials Because ‘She Wanted Us to Have Those,’ Nashville Police Told Her Parents

Tom Pappert

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale created duplicates of materials she wanted to be discovered by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), a detective told the killer’s parents in a June 12, 2023 interview, according to a transcript obtained by The Tennessee Star.

The interview was conducted by three MNPD detectives, who were investigating the Covenant case, and included both Ronald and Norma Hale, the parents of Audrey Hale, and their attorney David Raybin.

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Nashville Police Point to Judge I’Ashea Myles When Questioned over Will Mentioned by Covenant Killer Audrey Hale in Suicide Note

Tom Pappert

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) referred The Tennessee Star to the court of Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles when asked if the department provided specific documents to Judge Myles before she declared in her decision that not one page of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale will be released, citing the copyright allegedly held by the parents of Covenant School children.

The Star asked MNPD Public Affairs director Don Aaron whether investigators provided Judge Myles with the document titled “Vandy Psych.” The document contains notes written by an MNPD investigator who received at least 75 pages of documents from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where Hale was a 22-year mental health patient, after obtaining a search warrant in the wake of her March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of six.

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Oklahoma Becomes Latest State in Court over Illegal Immigration, Arguing It’s a State Issue

Just the News
Oklahoma Atty Gen. Gentner Drummond

Oklahoma is the most recent state facing a legal battle with the Biden administration on the issue of illegal immigration, with a federal judge blocking legislation that would make entering the country illegally a state crime. 

Oklahoma’s House Bill 4156 makes it a crime to be in Oklahoma without legal status. The legislation was signed into law on April 30, but was blocked by a federal judge in June after the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against the state. 

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Covenant Killer’s Parents Claimed She Left No Will, but Suicide Note Audrey Hale Wrote Demands ‘PLEASE READ MY WILL’

Tom Pappert

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles last Thursday ruled that not one page of the materials written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale will be released to the public, citing the copyright claims raised by parents of minor students who claim to own the copyright to the killer’s works.

The parents of Covenant School students successfully claimed before Myles that they were assigned the intellectual property rights of the materials left by Audrey Hale before to her attack, and a probate court filing reveals Ronald and Norma Hale appear to have transferred the copyright to the parents of in June 2023.

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Biden Admin Spent Millions in Taxpayer Dollars Moving Illegals Across America According to House Report

Just the News
Illegal Immigrants

The House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement released a report Wednesday detailing the Biden administration’s spending of millions of taxpayer dollars on services that support illegal immigrants.

“[F]ar from imposing consequences on illegal aliens and removing them from the country, the Biden Administration encourages illegal aliens to arrive at the border, chauffeurs them into the interior, and then rewards them with concierge services, all on the taxpayers’ dime and at the expense of public safety,” the report stated.

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Tennessee Courts Will Look to Put Filings Online

The Center Square

Tennessee’s Advisory Commission on Rules of Practice and Procedure decided to start a committee looking into rules to make court briefs available online moving forward.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Dwight Tarwater will chair the committee, which will include commission Chairman Gino Bulso, Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Greenholtz, former Solicitor General Andree Blumstein and attorney Tim Mickel.

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New York Judges Disbar Rudy Giuliani for ‘False Statements’ About Election Fraud, But Don’t Consider the Evidence

Rachel Alexander

A panel of five New York appeals court judges this week unanimously disbarred former President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, over statements he made about election illegalities in the 2020 presidential election.

The opinion from the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division, First Judicial Department relied on ethics rules used to target conservative attorneys: “engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” “engag[ing] in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice,” and “engag[ing] in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness as a lawyer.”

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More Police Officers Relocating to Florida from Other States

The Center Square
Sarasota Police

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody welcomed new police officers to the state after they relocated from Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico and New York.

“Florida is the most pro-law enforcement state in the nation because we back our blue,” Moody said. “We’ve been spreading the word about all the great incentives to join our ranks, and individuals like the new Sarasota recruits have answered the call – leaving behind places where their service was not as appreciated as it is here.”

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Commentary: Supreme Court’s Immunity Decision Has Democrats in Hysterics, Again

RealClearWire
Trump and Supreme Court

Reasonable constitutional scholars and jurists could quibble about the details and impact of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision in Trump v. United States, but the hysteria coming from the left, including President Joe Biden and dissenting Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown-Jackson, is beyond rational discourse. An inability to control emotions and anger has become commonplace for progressives who don’t get their way.

Writing for a 6-3 majority, split on ideological lines, Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion laid out a three tiered approach to presidential immunity premised on the Constitution’s vesting of the complete executive power in one individual, giving him duties and power of “unrivaled gravity and breadth” and making that individual a full and equal branch of the United States government, alongside the Congress and courts. Roberts observed that the president’s constitutional powers are often “conclusive and preclusive” and those powers may not be subject to review by Congress or the courts.

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Tennessee Star to ‘Absolutely Appeal’ Judge’s Decision Not to Release One Single Page of Covenant School Killer Writings

Tom Pappert
Judge I'Ashea Myles, Michael Patrick Leahy

The Thursday ruling by Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles, when she decided not one single page of the writings of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale would be released, will “absolutely” be appealed, stated Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star and the CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), on Friday.

Leahy declared in his Friday statement, “The judge has erroneously accepted a dubious copyright claim made by intervenors who should not have been allowed to intervene in this case in the first place.”

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Tennessee Judge Rules Not One Page of Covenant Killer Writings Shall be Released, Cites Dubious Copyright Claims of Intervenors

Tom Pappert

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled in a decision released at 11:58 pm on Thursday that none of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale shall be released to the multiple parties who sued Metro Nashville to secure their release, citing the copyright claims of the parents she earlier allowed to intervene in the lawsuit.

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U.S. District Court Hands Down Victory in Tennessee-Led Case Challenging HHS Rule on Gender Identity Under the Affordable Care Act

Kaitlin Housler

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi has halted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from implementing its final rule which redefines the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on “sex” to include “gender identity” at the request of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Told Unknown Physician She ‘Felt Close’ to Columbine Massacre, Nashville Police Revealed in 2023 Recording

Tom Pappert
Columbine Shooters

Police investigators told the parents of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale their daughter “felt close” to those who perpetrated the Columbine High School attack in 1999 and created her own version of the Columbine Tapes.

The investigators told the killer’s parents, Ronald Hale and Norma Hale, that their daughter divulged the information to an unknown physician, according to the transcript of a July 12, 2023, interview The Tennessee Star obtained last month.

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ICE Nabs Illegal Migrant Wanted on Child Rape Charges After He Was Released into U.S. Years Earlier

Admin
ICE law enforcement officers arresting an illegal migrant

Federal immigration authorities arrested an illegal migrant wanted in his home country on child rape charges and hiding out in the United States.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehended a Ecuadorian national, who remains unidentified, in western Massachusetts last month, the agency announced on Tuesday. The individual entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2021 and is wanted in his home country for allegedly raping a child.

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