"Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too," said Monica Moreta-Galarza. "I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me."
By Stephen Prager • Sep 26, 2025
In the latest display of brutality by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a video that has gone viral on social media shows a plainclothes ICE agent hurling an Ecuadorian asylum-seeker, Monica Moreta-Galarza, to the ground at an immigration courthouse in New York City following the arrest of her husband in front of their two children.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agent has been relieved of his duties while his conduct is investigated.
The incident was captured by multiple reporters on the scene Thursday. A video posted by Elaad Eliahu of the conservative Timcast News network shows Moreta-Galarza’s husband—who had appeared for a court hearing with his family as part of their legal application for asylum—being wrestled away from his family by several masked agents as he attempts to cling to them. After ripping him away, three agents are shown dragging him out the door.
In another video, Moreta-Galarza is seen tearfully pleading in Spanish with one of the ICE agents, who is wearing a blue flannel shirt, a baseball cap, and no mask. He is shown repeatedly shouting “adios” at her, telling her to leave. When she moves toward him, he quickly grabs her and flings her across the room, through a crowd of photographers, and into the opposite wall. He then grabs her again and pushes her to the ground.
After she rises to her feet, the agent shoves Moreta-Galarza into the arms of security guards who escort her from the building.
Though Eliahu’s post described the man arrested as an “illegal alien,” ProPublica‘s Till Eckert, who was at the scene and spoke with Moreta-Galarza after the fact, reported that she “was seeking asylum with her family,” which is legal under US law.
The incident occurred at 26 Federal Plaza, a federal building that houses an immigration courthouse and a makeshift detention facility in which migrants have been shown to be living in wretched conditions recently. Last week, over 70 demonstrators, including several state lawmakers, were arrested during a protest at the facility.
“For the past two weeks, I’ve been going to the same New York City immigration courthouse,” Eckert said. “Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.”
Eckert reported that Moreta-Galarza’s injuries from the encounter required her to go to the hospital, where she has since been discharged.
The arrest is part of an increasing trend under the second Trump administration of immigrants being detained, often violently, while attempting to follow the legal process by appearing in court for immigration hearings.
As Statelinereported in August, ICE has increasingly been using a new, “unexpected legal tactic” to lure immigrants: “Rather than pursue a deportation case, it is convincing judges to dismiss immigrants’ cases—thus depriving the immigrants of protection from arrest and detention—then taking them into custody.” While some are undocumented entrants, many of those snatched up in these courthouse arrests are legal applicants for asylum.
Eckert explained that “these sorts of actions were outside the norm historically for ICE agents.”
“Yet under Trump’s second term, immigration courts have shifted from being seen as relatively safe venues into places where immigrants face the risk of surveillance, arrest, and sometimes even violence,” he said.
While the Trump administration often describes those arrested by ICE as “the worst of the worst,” immigration data as of September 7 showed just over 70% of those currently detained have no criminal convictions. On Friday, The Guardianreported that a plurality of people currently in ICE custody have not even been charged with crimes.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said that Moreta-Galarza “fled to my office for safety after she was assaulted by this [ICE] agent in an egregious act of excessive force.”
In a recorded interview after the incident, Goldman said his office would “continue to follow this particular story because it is just one example of too many where we have these secret police officers who are attacking our communities with excessive violence, excessive force, and they just think that they can do it with impunity because nobody is holding them accountable.”
Social media users later identified another video outside the same court in August, which appeared to show the same ICE agent forcibly prying a crying young girl away from her father as he is arrested and his family watched in tears.
In a statement provided to CBS News on Friday, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, called the agent’s conduct toward Moreta-Galarza “unacceptable.”
“Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards and this officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation,” she said.
New York City comptroller Brad Lander, who has been arrested twice at the facility—once in June while escorting an immigrant out of his court hearing and again last week while protesting the facility—expressed outrage at the treatment of Moreta-Galarza and her family.
“An ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital,” Lander said. “Seconds earlier, her husband had been abducted by masked ICE agents who did not identify themselves, did not present a warrant, did not give any lawful grounds for his detention.”
“Every day, masked ICE agents are acting violently against our neighbors, illegally abducting them, holding them in cruel and inhumane conditions. Treating them as less-than-human and not deserving due process,” Lander continued. “We will not stop bearing witness, stop condemning them, or stop doing all we can to stand up to this lawless behavior.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, called the agent’s behavior “sickening,” and said, “the fact that Mayor [Eric] Adams has rolled out the red carpet for ICE is a stain on our city.”
After being discharged from the hospital, Moreta-Galarza spoke about her experience to reporters.
“Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too,” she said in Spanish. “I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me.”
"I don't recall seeing such a large walkout for quite some time at UNGA," said one observer. "Israel has chosen to be a pariah and is increasingly treated as such by the international community."
By Brad Reed • Sep 26, 2025
Dozens of delegates in the United Nations General Assembly walked out in protest on Friday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to deliver an address.
Video posted on X by Axios reporter Barak Ravid showed United Nations delegates from multiple countries standing up from their seats and exiting the chamber as Netanyahu took to the podium and prepared to deliver his address.
The mass walkout left the assembly hall mostly “empty,” Ravid subsequently reported.
The protests against Netanyahu came as Israel is causing a famine in Gaza with its near-total blockade on humanitarian aid, which has killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians. Israel has launched a full invasion of Gaza, and its right-wing government has explicitly said that it plans on expelling all Palestinians who are still living in the exclave. The Israel Defense Forces’ assault has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel has become increasingly isolated on the international stage in recent weeks, as the governments of France, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia have all formally recognizedPalestine as an independent state.
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has vowed to arrest the Israeli prime minister on war crimes charges filed last year by the International Criminal Court should he set foot in the city during the progressive’s potential mayoral tenure, blasted Netanyahu for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while again pledging to do everything he could to hold him accountable.
“This morning, Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United Nations—an institution which has concluded his government is committing a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” he said in a social media post, referring to a UN commission’s finding earlier this month. “He arrived in New York after a flight that added hours to its path to circumvent the airspace of countries which might enforce the International Criminal Court’s warrant for his arrest.”
Mamdani added that “during the course of his speech, another Palestinian child will undoubtedly be killed by the Israeli military in Gaza, as they have been every single hour for nearly two years.”
Trita Parsi, the executive vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, argued that the mass walkout was symbolic of Israel’s near-total isolation in the international community.
“I don’t recall seeing such a large walkout for quite some time at UNGA,” he said. “Israel has chosen to be a pariah and is increasingly treated as such by the international community.”
CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin joked that she felt envious of those delegates who left the assembly hall.
“Those who walked out when Netanyahu was speaking at the UN are the fortunate ones,” the longtime peace advocate wrote. “Those of us who listened to his speech online are feeling sick. He is such a bold-faced liar and a mass murderer.”
"This is either a meeting that could have been an email," said one observer, "or something ominous."
By Julia Conley • Sep 25, 2025
“Nothing good is likely coming out of this,” said one Democratic political scientist on Thursday regarding reports that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called a meeting of hundreds of top military general and admirals in Quantico, Virginia next Tuesday.
The highly unusual summit was announced on short notice and no reason was given to military commanders and other leaders stationed in conflict zones, across Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region who are being required to leave their posts for the meeting.
The order applies to “all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above,” The Washington Postreported. There are roughly 800 generals and admirals in the US military.
“You don’t call [general officers and flag officers] leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside DC and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is,” one person familiar with the matter told the Post.
Some sources told the newspaper that the order raises security concerns.
“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?” one person said. “All of it is weird.”
The directive comes months after Hegseth fired about 100 generals and admirals and a month after he dismissed top leaders of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Navy Reserve, and the Naval Special Warfare Command, without giving the officials reasons for their firing.
The DIA had found a few months earlier that Iran’s nuclear program had not been significantly damaged by US strikes, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claims.
The Pentagon has said there will likely be another 10% reduction of generals and admirals, and political consultant Joel Montfort noted that the right-wing policy blueprint Project 2025 “details a plan to remove senior leaders and consolidate power to loyalists” at the Department of Defense, which Hegseth has claimed is now called the Department of War.
“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now? All of it is weird.”
“People are very concerned,” one official told the Post regarding the meeting. “They have no idea what it means.”
The Interceptreported that military sources it spoke to “speculated about the purpose, wondering if it might foretell a culling of general officers; a significant reorganization of the military command structure; a threat to eschew contact with the press; or a loyalty oath about putting Trump administration priorities above all else.”
“One source, somewhat in jest, evoked the phrase ‘coup d’état,’ later clarifying they meant a gutting of leaders who might question Trump’s policies,” reported the outlet.
Some other officials familiar with the matter told the Post that they believed the Trump administration’s desire to make “homeland defense the nation’s top concern,” rather than China, was likely to be discussed at the meeting.
The order also came a day after the Office of Management and Budget threatened a new round of mass firings at federal agencies unless Democrats in Congress agree to a funding bill to keep the government running before the October 1 deadline.
“This is either a meeting that could have been an email,” said Matt Gertz of Media Matters for America, “or something ominous.”
"The composition of the UN still largely reflects the world of 1945," said Alexander Stubb. "As the world has changed drastically, so should the decision-making at the UN."
By Brett Wilkins • Sep 25, 2025
Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Wednesday renewed his call for expanding the number of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, abolishing veto power, and stripping voting rights from states that violate the UN Charter.
“Today, the UN is struggling to fulfill its central promise of delivering peace and stability,” Stubb said during his UN General Assembly address. “Countries have increasingly taken the liberty to break the rules of international law, and to use force to gain other peoples’ territories, and suppress other nations.”
Noting Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s obliteration of Gaza, and wars in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Subb asserted: “War is always a failure of humanity. It is a collective failure of our fundamental values.”
“Last year in this very hall, I argued for a reformed Security Council,” he said. “A council where currently underrepresented regions would have a stronger voice through permanent seats at the table.”
“The number of permanent members should be increased at the Security Council,” Subb proposed. “At least, there should be two new seats for Asia, two for Africa and one for Latin America. No single state should have veto power. And, if a member of the Security Council violates the UN Charter, its voting rights should be suspended.”
Under Stubb’s proposal, all five permanent Security Council members would likely lose voting rights: the United States bombs countries and alleged drug traffickers in violation of international law while backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Russia is invading and occupying Ukraine, Britain and France back Israel’s genocidal war, and China persecutes people within its own borders.
“Finland strongly supports the UN and wants it to succeed,” Stubb said. “Therefore, we stress the need for true reform to enhance the organization’s credibility, relevance, and efficiency. This will ensure that the UN can act.”
“The UN needs to focus its efforts on its most important goals: ending and preventing wars, protecting human rights, and acting as a catalyst for sustainable development,” he added.
Last week, Finland voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which the International Court of Justice last year ruled is an illegal form of apartheid that must end as soon as possible. The vote on last week’s resolution was 124 in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions. The ICJ is also weighing a genocide case against Israel filed in December 2023 by South Africa.
“The occupation that began in 1967 must end, and all permanent status issues must be resolved,” Stubb said during his Wednesday speech.
Stubb then turned to the current situation in Gaza, where Israel’s US-backed 720-day genocidal assault and forced starvation has left more than 241,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more starved, sickened, and forcibly displaced as Israeli forces push to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse the coastal strip.
“Civilians in Gaza are experiencing immense suffering,” he noted. “The deepening humanitarian crisis has reached unbearable levels and represents a failure of the international system. At the same time, Hamas continues to hold the hostages it has taken and many have already lost their lives.”
“An immediate ceasefire is needed in Gaza,” Stubb added. “Humanitarian aid must be granted safe and unhindered access. The hostages must be released.”
"Trying to criminalize the act of calling a government 'authoritarian,'" one journalist said, "is exactly what an authoritarian government would do."
By Stephen Prager • Sep 25, 2025
Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, signaled how far he is willing to go to criminalize dissent against President Donald Trump in a social media post on Wednesday in which he implied that merely describing the president’s actions as “authoritarian” is tantamount to a criminal offense.
Miller’s comments came in response to a clip of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who appeared Tuesday on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS. In the clip, posted to X, the governor is shown describing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) mass immigration roundups.
“Masked men jumping out of unmarked cars, people disappearing, no due process, no oversight, zero accountability—that’s what’s happening in the United States today,” Newsom said. “People ask, ‘Is ‘authoritarianism’ being hyperbolic?’ Bullshit we’re being hyperbolic.”
Newsom noted that he had just signed the first bill in the nation forbidding ICE agents from wearing masks while carrying out arrests and requiring them to provide identification.
“I mean, if some guy jumped out of an unmarked car in a van and tried to grab me, by definition, you’re going to push back,” Newsom continued. “These are not just authoritarian tendencies; these are authoritarian actions by an authoritarian government.”
Newsom directly called out comments made by Miller, who recently said on Fox News that the Trump administration should use law enforcement to “dismantle” the left following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
“This should put chills up spines, “Newsom said. “[Miller] called the Democratic Party an ‘extremist organization,’ basically a terrorist organization, saying he’s going after his enemies.”
Newsom also referred to a post made by Trump on Truth Social telling Attorney General Pam Bondi to target certain political enemies for prosecution.
Miller responded to the clip of Newsom, saying: “This language incites violence and terrorism.”
As many critics pointed out, none of Newsom’s statements in the clip promoted or encouraged violence. They were simply criticisms of the Trump administration’s actions, which have included rounding up immigrants without due process and singling out political opponents for persecution.
US law has historically set an extraordinarily high bar for what speech constitutes “incitement” to violence.
As Lee Rowland of the New York Civil Liberties Union explained, “The Supreme Court recognizes, rightfully, that political speech often involves really passionate, sometimes violent rhetoric. And unless and until it creates a specific and immediate roadmap to violence against others, it cannot be criminalized consistent with our First Amendment.”
But Miller’s comments indicate a concerted effort within the Trump administration to widen what protected political speech can be deemed violent.
On the day of Kirk’s assassination, Trump blamed “those on the radical left” for the murder, saying they “have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. He added that “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order designating “antifa,” short for antifascist, as a “domestic terrorist organization”—although it is not, in fact, an organization at all. Without a concrete group to target, critics have warned that the designation will instead be used to label those who describe Trump as “fascist” or “authoritarian” as threats in and of themselves.
Bondi suggested last week, in comments that were met with derision across the political spectrum, that the administration would use law enforcement to go after “hate speech,” which is generally protected by the First Amendment.
But the characterization of criticism being equal to violence only amplified following Wednesday’s shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas, which killed one detainee and critically injured two others. JD Vance made a similar suggestion that critical rhetoric toward ICE was to blame for the attack.
“When Democrats like Gavin Newsom ... say that these people [ICE] are part of an authoritarian government, when the left-wing media lies about what they’re doing, when they lie about who they’re arresting, when they lie about the actual job of law enforcement... What they’re doing is encouraging crazy people to go and commit violence,” said Vance.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), likewise, blamed the shooting on “every politician who is using rhetoric demonizing ICE and demonizing [Customs and Border Protection].”
Miller’s comments, which directly refer to criticism of the Trump administration as “inciting violence and terrorism,” may be the most direct indication yet of an intent to criminalize First Amendment-protected dissent.
Ironically, these threats have only made criticisms of Trump as an authoritarian grow louder.
“Trying to criminalize the act of calling a government ‘authoritarian,‘” said journalist James Surowiecki, “is exactly what an authoritarian government would do.”
State school superintendent Ryan Walters said public high schools across the state must partner with late activist Charlie Kirk's organization to counter "woke indoctrination."
By Julia Conley • Sep 25, 2025
Public high schools in Oklahoma are being ordered to partner with Turning Point USA, the right-wing group founded by activist Charlie Kirk—and threatened with being stripped of their accreditation if they don’t comply.
Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, released a video address on Tuesday saying that “every Oklahoma high school will have a Turning Point USA chapter.”
“For far too long we have seen radical leftists with the teachers unions dominate classrooms and push woke indoctrination on our kids,” Walters said in the video posted to social media.
The state-mandated chapters of “Club America,” Turning Point’s high school program, will ensure students “understand American greatness” while enabling them to “engage in civic dialogue and have that open discussion,” said Walters, who also announced on Thursday that he would resign to join the nonprofit anti-union group Teacher Freedom Alliance.
Turning Point has claimed that since Kirk was fatally shot earlier this month at a debate event the group was holding at Utah Valley University, it has received a “massive surge of inquiries to start new chapters” of Club America—but Walters has evidently seen fit to threaten schools if they don’t partner with the organization despite the reports of organic interest.
He told reporter Paige Taylor of KOKH FOX 25, “We would go after their accreditation, we would go after their certificates, they would be in danger of not being a school district if they decided to reject a club that is here to promote civil engagement.”
Since Kirk’s killing, Walters has focused intently on rooting out teachers and school administrators who have not displayed mourning for the activist. On September 17, his office said it had received hundreds of reports of schools and educators displaying “vile rhetoric promoting the killing.”
The press release listed 224 reports of “defamatory comments” as well as 30 reports of schools “not observing a moment of silence” and three of schools refusing to fly their flag at half staff.
Kirk mobilized young conservatives and engaged in debates on college campuses regarding abortion rights, immigration, and other political issues. At events and on his podcast, he promoted the white supremacist view that a “great replacement strategy” was underway via immigration policy and claimed “prowling Blacks” target white people with violence in cities.
Walters has spent much of his time as state superintendent pushing for Oklahoma’s public schools to include Christian and right-wing beliefs in their teachings—calling on schools to display a video of him praying, procuring President Donald Trump-branded bibles after mandating biblical lessons, screening teachers for liberal viewpoints, and pushing for high school social studies teachers to include debunked conspiracy theories about “election fraud” in the 2020 election in their lesson plans.
After Walters announced his plan to mandate the establishment of Turning Point USA chapters at high schools, a number of observers noted that the superintendent has presided over a school system that is ranked 50th nationwide in terms of education quality.
“And now all high schools will have political propaganda clubs,” said progressive organizer Melanie D’Arrigo, “while banning books like To Kill a Mockingbird because it’s ‘indoctrination.‘”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Ryan Walters announced his resignation.
The UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories implored other countries "to mobilize their fleet to grant the flotilla safe sailing to Gaza, and deploy a real humanitarian convoy to break the blockade."
By Jessica Corbett • Sep 24, 2025
Critics of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip welcomed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Wednesday announcement that his country will join Italy in sending a warship to protect the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has endured several drone attacks during its journey to deliver humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians.
The flotilla—whose name means perseverance in Arabic—departed Barcelona over three weeks ago. The peaceful mission to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza involves around 50 boats carrying hundreds of people from dozens of countries, including Spain.
“The government of Spain demands compliance with international law and respect for the right of its citizens to safely navigate the Mediterranean,” Sánchez said during a Wednesday press conference in New York City, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. He said a vessel equipped to assist the flotilla will depart from Cartagena on Thursday.
Sánchez’s move came after Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said earlier Wednesday that his government sent a naval ship “to ensure assistance to the Italian citizens on the flotilla” following an overnight drone attack in the Mediterranean Sea.
Both ship announcements followed 16 foreign ministers, including Spain’s José Manuel Albares, warningIsrael against attacking the Global Sumud Flotilla last week. On Monday, the Spaniard had reaffirmed diplomatic support for participants, vowing that Spain “will react to any act that violates their freedom of movement, their freedom of expression, and international law.”
The Israeli government has a history of attacking flotillas, and although it has not formally claimed credit for the recent drone attacks, it is widely believed to be responsible. The latest was “the largest and most terrifying attack yet,” Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler, who is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, toldJacobin.
“While we expect these attacks to escalate each day that we approach Gaza, we cannot normalize the criminal violence committed against this peaceful convoy of humanitarian workers and the critical aid that we carry with us,” Adler said. “This midnight incident is just a reminder of the brutal violence deployed against the people of Palestine, hour by hour and day by day. If the state of Israel can attack us here—with the eyes of the world watching—then they can do so in Gaza a millionfold, with even greater impunity.”
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has posted multiple threatening messages on social media attempting to connect the Global Sumud Flotilla to Hamas, which Israel and its ally the United States have designated a terrorist organization.
“We have another proposal for the Hamas-Sumud flotilla: If this is not about provocation and serving Hamas, you are welcome to unload any aid you might have at any port in a nearby country outside Israel, from which it can be transferred peacefully to Gaza,” the ministry said several hours after the latest attack. “Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade. Is this about aid or about provocation?”
The Spanish and Italian governments’ decisions have generated questions about how Israel will now engage with the flotilla.
“Wow. This is absolutely huge,” British writer Owen Jones said of Sánchez’s move. “After the attacks, Spain is offering direct military protection to the flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. So what now, Israel? Are you going to risk acts of war against a European nation so you can attack humanitarian vessels?”
The European leaders’ actions have also been met with applause. Francesca Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer now serving as UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, said: “Thank you, Spain.”
“I implore other countries to mobilize their fleet to grant the flotilla safe sailing to Gaza, and deploy a real humanitarian convoy to break the blockade,” she continued. “That’s what people want. That’s what humanity commands. If not in the time of a genocide, when??”
Nathan J. Robinson, editor in chief of Current Affairs, said: “This is a good start. Now tell him to gather food, pack it on ships, and send the whole navy.”
“Let Israel face down the full Spanish Armada if it wants to block aid from entering Gaza,” he added.
As casualties have continued to climb in Gaza—local officials said Wednesday that the Israeli assault has killed at least 65,419 Palestinians and injured 167,160, though global experts believe those figures are undercounts—a growing number of world leaders have not only called for a cease-fire but also recognized the Palestinian state.
At UN headquarters earlier this week, Sánchez described recent recognition of Palestine as “a crucial step” toward “the two-state solution” but also stressed that “there can be no solution when the population of one of those states is the victim of genocide.”
Speaking to the General Assembly on Tuesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for invoking the United for Peace resolution to send an armed protection force to Gaza. He also took aim at US diplomatic and weapons support for Israel, saying that President Donald Trump “allows missiles to be launched at children, young people, women, and the elderly” and “becomes complicit in genocide.”
Such a force could be authorized under the UN General Assembly's veto-proof United for Peace resolution.
By Brett Wilkins • Sep 24, 2025
In his stirring final speech to a United Nations General Assembly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday called for an international armed intervention to end Israel’s nearly two-year genocide in Gaza.
“We need a powerful army of the countries that do not accept genocide,” Petro, who is in his last year in office and is limited under Colombian law to a single presidential term, told world leaders gathered in New York. “That is why I invite nations of the world and their peoples more than anything, as an integral part of humanity, to bring together weapons and armies.”
“We must liberate Palestine,” he asserted. “I invite the armies of Asia, the great Slavic people who defeated Hitler with great heroism, and the Latin American armies of Bolívar.”
“We’ve had enough words; it’s time for Bolívar’s sword of liberty or death,” Petro argued, referring to the 19th century Latin American independence hero Simón Bolívar.
(Petro’s remarks on Gaza begin shortly after the 34:00 mark in the following video)
Connecting Israel’s obliteration of Gaza to renewed US militarism in the Western Hemisphere, Petro said that “they will not just bomb Gaza, not just the Caribbean as they are doing already, but all of humanity that demands freedom. Washington and NATO are killing democracy and helping to revive tyranny and totalitarianism on a global scale.”
“[US President Donald] Trump not only lets missiles fall on young people in the Caribbean; he not only imprisons and chains migrants, but he also allows missiles to be launched at children, young people, women, and the elderly in Gaza,” he added. “He becomes complicit in genocide—because it is genocide, and we must shout it again and again. This chamber is a silent witness and an accomplice to a genocide in today’s world.”
Petro’s “enough words” rallying cry is complicated by the fact that Israel’s allies Britain, France, and the United States—which largely arms Israel’s genocide—wield veto power at the UN Security Council.
However, there is veto-proof action the world can take by invoking the United for Peace resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 1950. The measure is designed to empower action when at least one of the five permanent Security Council members uses a veto to thwart functions mandated under the UN Charter.
The resolution—which has been implemented more than a dozen times—allows the UNGA to take actions ranging from rejecting Israel’s UN credentials to mandating an armed protection force for Gaza, if approved by two-thirds of UN member states.
There are also examples of nations acting unilaterally to end genocides and other human rights crises, although Colombia is obviously in no position to do so in Gaza. These include Vietnam’s 1978-79 invasion of Cambodia during Pol Pot’s reign of terror and, to a lesser extent, the contemporaneous Tanzanian invasion of Uganda to end the murderous rule of dictator Idi Amin.
India’s 1971 invasion of Bangladesh during a US-backed Pakistani genocide and NATO’s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia to ostensibly protect Kosovar Albanians were also couched as anti-genocide interventions by their perpetrators, although critics ascribed ulterior motives to both wars.
Petro’s speech came as Israeli forces continued Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethically cleanse around 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza City area. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes including forced starvation and murder—and other officials have vowed to take control of all of Gaza, where Trump has proposed ethnically cleansing Palestinians and transforming the strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Gaza officials said that least 84 Palestinians were killed throughout the strip on Wednesday, including at least 22 people massacred in an Israeli strike on a warehouse near Firas Market in Gaza City, where forcibly displaced civilians were sheltering. At least 15 of the victims were women and children.
Throughout the course of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Petro and Colombia have backed up their rhetoric with action. In April 2024, Colombia asked to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and subsequently did so. The following month, Petro announced Colombia’s suspension of diplomatic relations with Israel.
Colombia, along with South Africa, also co-chairs the Hague Group, a coalition of more than 30 nations whose representatives gathered in the Colombian capital Bogotá in July for an emergency summit and issued a joint action plan for “coordinated diplomatic, legal, and economic measures to restrain Israel’s assault on the occupied Palestinian territories and defend international law at large.”
"As history shows, no nation can kill their way out of the drug problem," argued one critic.
By Brad Reed • Sep 24, 2025
US President Donald Trump has now repeatedlyordered the American military to use deadly force against boats in international waters that are allegedly engaged in drug smuggling, and many experts are raising red flags about both its legality and its effectiveness.
In an essay published by Just Security on Wednesday, Ret. Army Lt. Col. Daniel Maurer argued that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had issued “a patently illegal order” with the attacks on the alleged drug boats, and warned that the service members who carried it out could be exposed to “to a range of criminal punishments” under both federal criminal law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
However, Maurer said it was highly unlikely that the service members who followed Trump’s orders would actually face consequences given the broad criminal immunity that the US Supreme Court granted presidents last year for carrying out official acts.
Regardless, Maurer concluded that Trump has “prejudiced good order and discipline within the armed forces” by “placing US service members in the position of having to contemplate whether they’d escape justice” by carrying out an illegal action.
John Yoo, an attorney who has long embraced a maximalist view of presidential powers and who has in the past authored legal memos justifying the torture of prisoners in American military custody, nonetheless also argued Trump’s drug boat bombing goes too far.
Writing in The Washington Post on Tuesday, Yoo made the case that ordering the military to use deadly force against suspected drug traffickers risks blurring the line between military action and law enforcement in ways that could lead to an “amorphous military campaign against the illegal drug trade, which would violate American law and the Constitution.”
Yoo said that the only way the Trump administration could possibly justify military action against cartels would be if it could prove that the cartels were carrying out acts of violence at the behest of a foreign government whose intention was to harm American citizens.
But he cautioned that the administration “has yet to provide compelling evidence in court or to Congress” that this is the case, and he said any action taken without such evidence would constitute “the misuse of the tools of war to fight the eternal social problem of crime.”
Daniel DePetris, a fellow at the national security think tank Defense Priorities, argued in Time on Wednesday that Trump’s drug boat bombings were not only “likely illegal and unconstitutional,” but would prove to be tactically ineffective as well.
“As history shows, no nation can kill their way out of the drug problem,” he argued. “Various governments have prefaced their entire anti-drug campaigns on military force before and have consistently failed. For example, the Mexican government declared war on the cartels in 2006 and tasked the military with prosecuting counter-drug operations, only to see those very same cartels get even more violent in their response.”
DePetris said that Trump doesn’t seem to grasp that as long as US citizens are willing to pay for illegal drugs, there will be criminal enterprises willing to go to extreme lengths to make money from them.
“As long demand is strong and the US remains the world’s top market, these criminal outfits will have billions of dollars’ worth of reasons to continue their operations, no matter the risk,” he concluded.
In a Wednesday editorial criticizing Trump’s bombing of suspected drug boats, The New York Times noted that the Trump administration has actually harmed efforts to reduce the demand for drugs in the US, despite considerable evidence that doing so is the surest way to hurt cartels.
“The White House has sought huge cuts to programs designed to bring down that demand, including widely praised addiction medicine and harm reduction efforts,” the Times editors wrote. “And it is cutting Medicaid, which will leave many users without access to effective treatment programs. It is doing so even though these programs helped produce a 26% decline in overdose deaths in 2024 from the year before.”
The Times editorial also linked Trump’s use of the military to take out purported drug traffickers with his deployment of the National Guard in US cities under the pretense of combating crime.
“His attacks at sea fit a disturbing pattern of using the military to address law-enforcement problems,” the editors wrote. “Just as he continues to send the National Guard into cities in a supposed effort to reduce street crime, he wants to achieve the illusion of dominance over drug smuggling, even if his actions make little difference and even if he kills people, guilty or innocent, in the process.”
“All people in the United States are entitled to due process—without exception,” said an attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts.
By Brad Reed • Sep 24, 2025
Several New England affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a new class-action lawsuit that challenges the immigration detention policies of US President Donald Trump.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts announced on Tuesday that it is joining with the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Maine, ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, the law firm Araujo and Fisher, the law firm Foley Hoag, and the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic to sue the Trump administration over its policy of denying bond hearings to people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The ACLU of Massachusetts described the denial of bond hearings for ICE detainees as “a violation of statutory and constitutional rights” that are “upending decades of settled law and established practice in immigration proceedings.” The end result of this, the ACLU of Massachusetts warned, is that “thousands of people in Massachusetts will be denied due process.”
The complaint contends that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has been denying ICE detainees their rights by “systematically reclassifying these people from the statutory authority of 8 U.S.C. § 1226, which usually allows for the opportunity to request bond during removal proceedings, to the no-bond detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225, which does not apply to people arrested in the interior of the United States and placed in removal proceedings.”
The ACLU of Massachusetts said that the administration’s misclassification of detainees stems from actions taken by the Tacoma Immigration Court in Washington, which in 2022 started “misclassifying § 1226 detainees arrested inside the United States as mandatory detainees under § 1225, solely because they initially entered the country without permission.”
The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Jose Arnulfo Guerrero Orellana, an immigrant who resides in Massachusetts and has no criminal record, but who was detained by ICE last week and has been denied the right to challenge his detention. The complaint asks that due process be restored for Orellana and others who have been similarly detained and held unlawfully.
Daniel McFadden, managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, argued that the administration’s actions violate fundamental constitutional rights.
“All people in the United States are entitled to due process—without exception,” he said. “When the government arrests any person inside the United States, it must be required to prove to a judge that there is an actual reason for the person’s detention. Our client and others like him have a constitutional and statutory right to receive a bond hearing for exactly that purpose.”
Annelise Araujo, founding principal and owner at Boston-based law firm Araujo and Fisher, argued that the administration’s detention policy “violates due process and upends nearly 30 years of established practice.”
“The people impacted by this policy are neighbors, friends, and family members, living peacefully in the United States and making important contributions to our communities,” she said. “Currently, the only recourse is to file individual habeas petitions for each detained client—a process that keeps people detained longer and stretches the resources of our courts.”
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Trump and his minions do not have the constitutional or statutory authority to create a terrorist designation pertaining to an amorphous political belief. Period.
The Trump administration is abusing federal power to silence dissenting voices in a manner that has not been seen in over 70 years. The country survived Sen. Joseph McCarthy, but will it survive what Trump has wrought?
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