ECM World Watch: national and global news

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July 16, 2025 -- As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S. 

Detentions

Other national issues

WORLD

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S. 

Detentions

‘We are not safe in America today:’ These American citizens say they were detained by ICE (CNN)

... reports of American citizens being detained by immigration officials, highlights growing concerns over racial profiling and constitutional rights — for both the documented and undocumented — as the Trump administration’s broad mass deportation crackdown takes aim at people of all ages...

‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls (Wired)

Records of hundreds of emergency calls from ICE detention centers obtained by WIRED—including audio recordings—show a system inundated by life-threatening incidents, delayed treatment, and overcrowding.

ICE detains Marine Corps veteran’s wife who was still breastfeeding their baby (AP)

Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre doesn’t know how to tell his children where their mother went after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her last month... After they married in 2024, Paola Clouatre sought a green card to legally live and work in the U.S. 

Federal data reveals the truth about immigrant detention  (KPBS)

Data shows a dramatic increase in immigrant detention since President Donald Trump took office in January. The most dramatic increase has been for people without criminal records….  the number of convicted criminals in ICE detention rose from roughly 9,000 in January to 14,500 in June — a 59% increase. During that same time, the number of detained immigrants without criminal records grew from approximately 800 to more than 11,700 — an increase of 12,000%.

Detainees describe worms in food, sewage near beds inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (SP)

Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved ones.

U.S. holding detainees from Asia, Africa and Europe at Guantanamo Bay immigration facilities (CBS)

The Trump administration recently transferred immigration detainees from countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean to detention facilities at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, dramatically expanding the nationalities of those held there, internal U.S. government records obtained by CBS News show... Two U.S. officials said most of those detained at the base are considered to be "high-risk" detainees, who are defined by immigration authorities as individuals with violent or otherwise serious criminal records, histories of disruptive behavior or alleged gang ties.

Immigration Agents 'Abduct And Disappear' Southland Residents, Class-Action Suit Alleges (Patch)

The ACLU and others are suing the federal government, claiming "masked goons" have carried out warrantless raids and hidden detentions.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia suffered psychological and physical torture in El Salvador prison, attorneys say (MSN)

Garcia was stripped naked, had his head shaved, beaten, forced to kneel for hours overnight, and lost over 30 pounds during his time at the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, his attorneys say in a new court filing.

Other National Issues

As Flood Deaths Rise, Texas Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by DOGE-Gutted National Weather Service (Common Dreams)

"Experts warned for months that drastic and sudden cuts at the National Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability and endanger lives during the storm season," said one critic.

Elon Musk announces new 'America' party after slamming Trump's megabill (USA Today)

Elon Musk announced the formation of a new political party amid his strident criticism of President Donald Trump's signature legislation. "When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy," Musk wrote on his social media platform X on July 5.

There's far more to Trump and Epstein's relationship: Trump biographer (Alternet)

," Wolff said "Epstein and Trump had been the best of friends for almost 15 years. ... The pair "hunted women together," according to Wolff, but fell out, as very rich men do, over real estate...according to Wolff's recollection of what Epstein told him, Trump "dropped a dime" on his friend's trafficking of young girls to the Palm Beach Police Department. (Which, as Wolff notes, indicates that Trump had long known of the crimes perpetrated at Epstein's house.) ..., after Trump's election in 2016, according to Wolff, Epstein "went into his safe, and he came out with photographs.... It was Trump with girls of an uncertain age, at Epstein's Palm Beach house...There are two in which the girls, topless girls, are sitting on Trump's lap.”

Supreme Court takes up a Republican appeal to end limits on party spending in federal elections (AP)

The Supreme Court will take up a Republican-led drive, backed by President Donald Trump’s administration, to wipe away limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president.

Trump’s Immigration Agenda Is Now Sweeping Up Military Families (NOTUS)

 Immigration and veteran advocates are concerned that military families have a new worry under the Trump administration: whether they will be detained and deported while family members are enlisted. / The U.S. has long given extra consideration in immigration enforcement for noncitizens related to service members and veterans. But as stories about Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining military family members garner more public attention , some members of Congress and outside groups are worried that the administration’s crackdown will take a toll on current military members’ ability to do their job and on the military’s ability to recruit.

‘DHS Is Taking Over DOJ’ — Former Officials Warn About Trump Consolidating Law Enforcement (NOTUS)

The Trump administration is rapidly repurposing law enforcement agencies to focus on what President Donald Trump called “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”  But while the American public sees a ballooning security force raiding offices and restaurants, recently departed government officials see something else: a political takeover of the Department of Justice by the Department of Homeland Security that is already draining resources from crucial security work.

Supreme Court sides with parents on keeping their kids out of LGBTQ instruction (MSNBC)

Parents said they face an “impossible choice.” School officials said the parents want to “unsettle a decades-old consensus.”

Trump's appeals judge nominee to face tough questions in Senate  (NPR)

The White House describes Emil Bove as an ideal nominee for a position on the federal courts. And that's exactly what critics fear. Bove spent years as a federal prosecutor ... before he left to defend Donald Trump through four criminal indictments. More recently, he's had a hand in some of the administration's most aggressive moves at the Justice Department.  As its top official responsible for daily operations, he was involved in sacking prosecutors and FBI agents who investigated Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In a recent move, he walked away from the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Justice Department abruptly fires 3 prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 criminal cases, AP sources say  (AP)

The Justice Department on Friday fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases, the latest moves by the Trump administration targeting attorneys connected to the massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

WORLD

Global leaders pledge development push as US shuns UN summit (Reuters)

A once-in-a-decade summit kicked off in Seville in scorching temperatures on Monday with global leaders under mounting pressure to reduce poverty, limit climate change and hit other key development goals increasingly at risk.

Rising poverty in conflict zones causes ` a billion people to go hungry’ (Guardian)

Extreme poverty is accelerating in 39 countries affected by war and conflict, leaving more than a billion people to go hungry, according to the World Bank. Civil wars and confrontations between nations, mostly in Africa, have set back economic growth and reduced the incomes of more than a billion people, “driving up extreme poverty faster than anywhere else”, the Washington-based body said.

Hamas studies Gaza ceasefire proposal labelled 'final' by Trump (Reuters)

Hamas said it was studying new ceasefire offers received from mediators Egypt and Qatar but that it aimed to reach an agreement that would ensure an end to the war and an Israeli pullout from Gaza.

Trump signs executive order ending Syria sanctions program (CBS)

The executive order comes after Mr. Trump announced in May during a trip to the Middle East that the U.S. would lift all sanctions on the country. While in the Middle East, Mr. Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who announced a transitional government in March. The Assad regime collapsed under the weight of an offensive by opposition forces. Sanctions will remain on Bashar al-Assad, Syria's former president. 

Costa Rican court orders release of migrants deported from U.S. (BBC)

 A court in Costa Rica has ordered the release of 200 migrants deported from the US... The deportees, among them more than 80 children, arrived on flights from the US shortly after the deal between the two governments was struck in February.  All 200 had been screened by US authorities and found to have "no links to terrorist groups", Costa Rican migration authorities said.

UN nuclear watchdog chief says Iran could again begin enriching uranium in ‘matter of months’ (CNN)

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog says US strikes on Iran fell short of causing total damage to its nuclear program and that Tehran could restart enriching uranium “in a matter of months,” contradicting President Donald Trump’s claims the US set Tehran’s ambitions back by decades.

 

 



 

 


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