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By Camila DeChalus, CNN

(CNN) — Experts are raising conflict-of-interest and ethical concerns after President Donald Trump hosted a LIV Golf event at his Virginia property this weekend, renewing scrutiny over whether the Trump family is financially benefiting from his time in office while supporting a golf league backed by a government accused of human rights abuses.

For years, Trump’s courses have served as both a refuge and a showcase for LIV, whose chief backer, Saudi Arabia’s government, has been accused of human rights violations. (The Saudi government announced last month that it will stop funding the league after the 2026 season.)

Critics have accused Saudi Arabia of using the golf league in part to divert attention from its human rights concerns, particularly following the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It comes as the country’s Public Investment Fund has invested aggressively in sports more broadly, signing high-profile stars to increase the global prominence of its soccer league and leading a consortium to buy an English soccer team. Saudi Arabia also signed a 10-year deal with Formula 1 in 2021 to host annual races.

Those moves have led to widespread accusations of “sportswashing” — a concept that involves nations using high-profile sporting events to project a favorable image of their country.

“Saudi Arabia is a murderous, authoritarian, anti-democratic region,” Kathleen Clark, a law professor in government ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, told CNN. “(Trump’s) willingness to do this is actually a really nice example about what his priorities are.”

LIV and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump, meanwhile, has largely shrugged off the Saudi government’s alleged human rights abuses in his two terms. During a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House last year, the president angrily dismissed a question about Khashoggi’s murder, claiming the journalist was “extremely controversial” and insisting a reporter raised the subject to embarrass the crown prince.

Trump then went on to insist Prince bin Salman — who the CIA assessed likely ordered the murder — “knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.” Saudi Arabian government officials have repeatedly denied these accusations and claim they had no knowledge on the journalist’s death. The Saudi Foreign Ministry released a statement in 2021 saying the country “completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions.”

At the meeting, which had all the trappings of a state visit, Trump heaped praise on the crown prince, including for what he called his “incredible” record on human rights.

Tournaments raise conflict of interest questions

The president, an avid golfer, has spent the past two weekends attending professional tour events at c

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CNN

By Maria Santana, Fidel Gutierrez, Caroll Alvarado, Marlon Sorto, Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — The parents of an 18-year-old US citizen who has terminal colon cancer have been reunited with their son a day after they were released from a Department of Homeland Security detention facility in Arizona.

The couple, Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, reunited with their son Kevin González Saturday evening in Durango, Mexico.

Their son, who was born in the US but raised in Mexico, fell ill while visiting family in Chicago over Christmas, according to CNN affiliate WLS. He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

“What I want to say to people is thank you for helping my family to be able to have the choice,” the 18-year-old – his face gaunt – told CNN in Durango shortly after reuniting with his parents.

Avilés and Amaya were in tears as they embraced Kevin after taking a bus to Durango, a state in northwest Mexico.

His parents, Mexican nationals, had both previously been deported from the US after entering “illegally,” DHS told CNN Friday.

In a desperate bid to see their son again after his diagnosis, the couple attempted to reenter the US in April, WLS reported. They were both arrested April 14 near Douglas, Arizona, according to DHS. They say they spent weeks in detention before they were deported and able to reunite with their son.

DHS told CNN the couple had applied for B1/B2 visas – temporary nonimmigrant visas – “which were denied due to their previous unlawful presence and entries into the United States.”

The couple were deported to Mexico Friday, DHS said. A US district judge in Tucson, Arizona, ordered the release of González’s parents on Thursday morning, according to WLS.

Their son flew to Mexico around a week ago, according to WLS, hoping to be reunited with his parents before he dies.

“We managed to make my son’s dream come true: to be with him again, to love him, to give him the love we could not give him during these months when he was not with us,” said Avilés after reuniting with his son.

“We sought every option. They denied us visas. They detained us at the border,” he said.

He showed his tattoos of his son’s name as well as Saint Jude – the patron saint of lost causes and desperate situations.

Kevin, his father said, is “very strong.”

“I have a lot of faith in him, and I know he is going to heal from this and from many more things,” he added.

Amaya cried as she held her son.

“These tears are from emotion, from seeing him again, from touching him again, from telling him how much I love him,” she said.

DHS said Avilés had been arrested and charged multiple times for different crimes, which ranged from minor to serious, and was deported in 2011. DHS did not respond to questions about where or when the alleged charges took place, and the outcomes of those cases are unclear.

Interviewed before reuniting with his son, Avilés said Friday he was “a humble worker” who worked as a taxi driver and truck driver in Durango

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