Nation & World Glance
Mueller takes the TV stage; Dems hope America tunes in
WASHINGTON — Democrats are pretty sure America didn’t read the Mueller report. On Wednesday, they’re hoping the nation will be glued to the TV version.
Former Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance before two House committees promises to be the TV event of the year in the U.S. House, where lawmakers will question him for roughly five hours about the book-length report he released in April.
Democrats hope that by putting Mueller on television and highlighting the parts of the report that they believe describe President Donald Trump’s most egregious behavior, they will be able to ignite new outrage and renew public interest in their investigations.
But Republicans will be there, too, defending Trump and turning some of their fire on Mueller’s investigation , which the president condemns as a “witch hunt.”
Trump himself first said he wouldn’t be watching, then he conceded, probably “a little bit.”
ICE releases US citizen, 18, wrongfully detained
HOUSTON — A U.S.-born 18-year-old was released from immigration custody Tuesday after wrongfully being detained for more than three weeks.
Francisco Erwin Galicia left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, Texas, on Tuesday. His lawyer, Claudia Galan, confirmed he had been released, less than a day after The Dallas Morning News’ reporting about his case drew national attention.
ICE did not immediately comment. Nor did U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, the agency that first detained Galicia.
Galicia lives in the border city of Edinburg, Texas, and was traveling north with a group of friends when they were stopped at a Border Patrol inland checkpoint. According to Galan and the Morning News, agents apprehended Galicia on suspicion that he was in the U.S. illegally even though he had a Texas state ID.
Galicia was detained for three weeks by the Border Patrol, then transferred to the ICE detention center.
Immigration roundup that targeted 2,100 nets 35 arrests
WASHINGTON — An immigration enforcement operation that President Donald Trump said was part of an effort to deport “millions” of people from the United States resulted in 35 arrests, officials said Tuesday.
Trump billed the operation targeting families as a major show of force as the number of Central American families crossing the southern border has skyrocketed. There are about 1 million people in the U.S. with final deportation orders; the operation targeted 2,100.
Of those arrested, 18 were members of families and 17 were collateral apprehensions of people in the country illegally who were encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. None of those arrested resulted in the separation of family, officials said.
The effort was demonized by Democrats as a full-force drive to deport families and trumpeted by Republicans as a necessary show of force to prove there are consequences for people coming here illegally. But career ICE officers described it as a routine operation, one expected to net an average of about 10% to 20% of targets.
A separate nationwide enforcement operation targeting immigrants here illegally who had criminal convictions or charges netted 899 arrests. And officers handed out 3,282 notices of inspection to businesses that may be employing people here illegally.
Docs: $6M to Armstrong family in wrongful death
CINCINNATI — An Ohio hospital paid the estate of astronaut Neil Armstrong $6 million in a confidential agreement to settle allegations that post-surgical complications led to Armstrong’s 2012 death, according to court documents and a report in the New York Times.
The 2014 settlement went to 10 family members, including Armstrong’s two sons, sister, brother and six grandchildren, according to documents filed with the Hamilton County Probate Court in Cincinnati which were publicly available on Tuesday. Armstrong’s widow, Carol, did not receive any money in the settlement.
Armstrong’s sons, Mark and Rick, contended care provided by Mercy HealthFairfield Hospital cost their father his life, according to the New York Times.
The 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon was celebrated Saturday. He died on Aug. 25, 2012.
A Sept. 24, 2014 motion to seal the settlement said the hospital and its caregivers stood by the treatment they provided.
Cellphones sought in Puerto Rico as crisis deepens
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Puerto Rico judge issued search warrants for the cellphones of government officials involved in a crude online chat whose leak has set off a political crisis that threatens to bring down the U.S. territory’s governor.
One of the search warrants said that government officials used the chat to transmit official and confidential information to private citizens in potential violation of ethics laws.
Kelvin Carrasco, a spokesman for the island’s Justice Department, said Tuesday that the warrants were approved overnight and issued to those who had yet to turn over their phones. He did not identify the officials and would not comment further.