By Ray Sanchez, Priscilla Alvarez, CNN

(CNN) — Two days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota reportedly tackled a home caregiver from sub-Saharan Africa to the snowy pavement and took her away in a van, a close friend made the 1,400-mile journey to a controversial Texas detention facility where she’s being held.

“She was so surprised to see me,” said her friend, Justin, a 40-year-old home caregiver who asked his full name not be used for fear of retaliation. “She never believed that anybody knew where she was.”

She isn’t alone.

Dozens of asylum seekers like her, as well as refugees who passed a rigorous, years-long vetting process before being admitted to the United States, have been arrested in Minnesota in recent weeks, immigration lawyers and advocates say.

The immigrants are shackled and placed on flights to detention facilities in Texas, where they are forced to recount painful asylum claims with limited or no contact with family members or attorneys, lawyers and advocates say. Some, after days of interviews with officers, have been released in Texas without money, identification or phones. Others remain detained without information about why they’re being held.

“It really is a campaign of terror. It is designed to scare people,” said Laurie Ball Cooper, vice president for US legal programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project. “I know there have been many tales of disorganization. I’m not sure this is one.”

Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, acknowledged Thursday the immigration enforcement effort in Minnesota needed to be “fixed” and said his team was working on a drawdown plan while sharpening the focus of operations on undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

Deployed by the administration to Minneapolis to manage ICE operations in the wake of Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting, Homan said not “everything that’s been done here has been perfect” and that “certain improvements can and should be made.”

‘Arrest first, investigate later’

The refugees come from countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Syria, El Salvador, Venezuela and Russia, Ball Cooper said. They entered the US legally but cannot apply for permanent status until a year after they’ve been admitted to the country, as required under US law. Ball Cooper and other advocates have been in touch with some of those refugees, who they say have not been charged with crimes or immigration violations that would leave them open to removal proceedings.

“I am aware of cases where the person was arrested, detained in Minnesota and put on a plane (to Texas) in 90 minutes or less,” Ball Cooper told CNN, adding that attorneys and advocates in Minnesota and Texas have been left scrambling to connect with many of the refugees.

Late Wednesday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from arresting or detaining resettled refugees in Minnesota while a class-action lawsuit challenging the practice plays out. The judge also ordered the immediate release of all detained refugees in Minnesota, as well as the release of those taken out of the state within five days and gave the government 48 hours to provide a list of detained refugees.

A handful of refugees in the case are represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project and other legal and advocacy organizations. The suit and attorneys for the plaintiffs accuse federal officers of “hunting down” resettled refugees door-to-door and transferring them to facilities in Texas.

“It’s a fishing expedition,” Ball Cooper said of the administration’s targeting of refugees, including chi

By CNN Meteorologist Briana Waxman

(CNN) — Snow, damaging winds and dangerous coastal flooding are expected to impact parts of the southern Appalachians, the Carolinas and southern Virginia this weekend as a powerful winter storm rapidly intensifies off the Southeast coast.

Impacts will begin late Friday into Saturday, with snow and hurricane-force wind gusts possible along parts of the North Carolina and Virginia coast by Saturday night. Coastal New England, particularly eastern Massachusetts, could see snow and wind later in the weekend if the storm tracks closer to shore.

A low-pressure system is expected to form near the North Carolina coast late Friday before rapidly strengthening as it moves north Saturday, a process known as bombogenesis. As the bomb cyclone intensifies, it will draw very cold air southward, allowing snow to fall across areas that don’t often see significant winter weather.

More than 28 million people across the Southeast are under winter storm watches and warnings, including parts of northern Georgia, the Carolinas and southern Virginia. Many of these areas are still recovering from last weekend’s deadly winter storm, which left snow and ice-covered roads, widespread travel disruptions and protracted power outages.

Heavy snow for winter-weary Southeast

Snow is expected to pile up in parts of the southern Appalachians, the Carolinas and southern Virginia late Friday night into Saturday as the storm rapidly strengthens offshore.

The most impactful snowfall is expected across central and eastern North Carolina into southern Virginia, where 5 to 10 inches of snow are projected. Locally higher totals are possible if narrow bands of heavy snow develop. Cities including Raleigh and Greensboro, North Carolina, and Norfolk, Virginia, are among those at risk for significant snow accumulations.

Farther south, accumulating snow is also expected across parts of South Carolina and into eastern Georgia, where temperatures will remain cold enough for snow. Totals in these areas are generally expected to be lower, but even an inch or less of snow would be disruptive in places like Atlanta that rarely see winter weather.

Very cold air already in place will allow snow to accumulate quickly across the region, sticking to roads, bridges and untreated surfaces with little melting. Travel conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly once snow begins, and hazardous conditions could persist into Sunday morning before snow tapers off.

Powerful winds could create blizzard conditions

As the storm rapidly intensifies offshore, powerful winds will significantly worsen impacts across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

The strongest winds are expected near the coast, where gusts could approach hurricane force, or 75 miles per hour, along parts of the North Carolina and Virginia shoreline by Saturday night. Where these winds coincide with heavy snow, blizzard conditions are possible, with near-zero visibility and extremely dangerous travel, particularly along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and into southeast Virginia.

Farther inland, strong and persistent winds will still pose serious problems. Gusts of 25 to 35 mph are expected from Georgia through the Carolinas and into southern Virginia, with higher gusts possible at times. These winds will combine with dry, powdery snow to cause blowing and drifting snow, sharply reducing visibility and making travel hazardous even after snowfall rates decrease.

Gusty winds could also extend into coastal New England later in the weekend, especially if the storm remains closer to the coast.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KEYT) - Freshman guard Troy Plumtree led five Mustangs in double-digit scoring figures with a career high 31 points – more than tripling his previous collegiate best – and the Cal Poly men’s basketball program set a new single game program record for free throw percentage in a 104-79 Thursday victory at Cal State Bakersfield.

Sophomore Hamad Mousa finished with 15 points while fellow guard Cayden Ward added 12 for Cal Poly (8-14, 4-6), which snapped a three-game slide with its highest offensive output of the season and by shooting 55.4 (36-for-55) percent from the floor. The Mustangs also drained 12 three-pointers – including eight in the first half to lead by 21 at the break.

Finishing 20-for-20 from the free throw line, Cal Poly established a new program record for most conversions without a miss, besting a 17-for-17 performance at UC Irvine on March 3, 2022.

Junior Jackson Mosley contributed 11 points for the Mustangs while senior Aaron Price, Jr. enjoyed a season high 10 points. Sophomore Peter Bandelj contributed a game high seven assists.

Plumtree, whose previous collegiate best was a nine-point effort versus UC Riverside (Dec. 6), finished 13-for-17 from the floor to record the highest field goal total by a Mustang this season. He entered Thursday with just 57 points scored on the season.

Cal Poly trailed 14-8 after Thursday’s initial five-and-a-half minutes before taking its first lead of the night with a 7-0 run. Cal State Bakersfield scored on its next possession before Mosley drained a deep three-pointer to extinguish the host’s last advantage of the evening.

Keeping Cal State Bakersfield to just two field goals during a seven-minute span, Cal Poly – which shot 56.3 (18-for-32) percent during the first half – went up 46-26 with three-minutes left on a Plumtree layup.

Cal Poly – which enjoyed first-half three-pointers from seven different players – took a 56-35 lead into the break.

Into the second half, Cal State Bakersfield cut its deficit to 71-53 with 10-and-a-half minutes remaining before Cal Poly scored on its next two possessions and maintained a minimum 23-point edge the remainder of the night.

Cal Poly Noteworthy (at Cal State Bakersfield)

Up Next: Cal Poly stays on the road, closing a two-game swing at UC Riverside on Saturday, Jan. 31. Tip time is 5 p.m.
Troy Plumtree’s 31-point night marked the fourth highest scoring game by a Cal Poly player this season.
A double-digit scorer in all 21 appearances, Hamad Mousa stayed atop the Big West scoring chart at 20.4 points per game.
Cal Poly’s 56-point first half matched its second highest single-half total of the year. The Mustangs scored 60 during the second half against Pacific Lutheran (Nov. 5) and 56 in the second at Montana (Nov. 14).
Cal Poly’s previous scoring high this season came during a 101-79 season-opening win versus Pacific Lutheran.
Thursday’s game marked Cal Poly’s fifth 100-point game under second-year head coach Mike DeGeorge.

(Article courtesy Cal Poly)

The post Plumtree has career night as Cal Poly tops century mark appeared first on News Ch

Por Morgan Rimmer, Ted Barrett y Manu Raju, CNN

Los líderes del Senado de EE.UU. tienen un acuerdo de financiación bipartidista en la mano, pero queda por ver si evitarán un costoso cierre del Gobierno a medida que se acerca la fecha límite de medianoche del viernes.

Los legisladores abandonaron el Capitolio este jueves por la noche después de que todos los senadores de base no lograran un acuerdo para avanzar rápidamente con el paquete de gastos, cuyos detalles habían sido definidos por los negociadores de ambos partidos y la Casa Blanca ese mismo día.

Está previsto que los miembros del Senado regresen este viernes con miras a devolver los proyectos de ley a la Cámara de Representantes para su aprobación final, pero las negociaciones pueden cambiar rápidamente.

“Espero que podamos resolver estos problemas. Ahora mismo, tenemos problemas en ambos lados, pero mañana será otro día”, declaró a la prensa el líder de la mayoría del Senado, John Thune, al salir del Capitolio de Estados Unidos.

Cualquier senador puede oponerse a la rápida consideración de una medida en el pleno, lo que ralentizaría el proceso.

El acuerdo, anunciado horas antes por el líder de la minoría, Chuck Schumer, incluye una prórroga provisional de dos semanas para la financiación del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, solicitada por los demócratas.

También separa el proyecto de ley del DHS de un paquete de borradores de leyes de gastos bipartidistas para financiar agencias cruciales hasta septiembre, como los departamentos de Defensa, Salud y Servicios Humanos, Trabajo, Educación, Transporte y Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano.

Sin embargo, si el Senado logra su objetivo el viernes, la aprobación final podría retrasarse hasta el lunes —después de la fecha límite oficial de cierre—, ya ​​que la Cámara tendría que regresar a Washington tras su receso de una semana.

Hasta el momento, el presidente Mike Johnson no se ha comprometido con la fecha exacta, pero una rápida aprobación por parte de su cámara podría mitigar el impacto de cualquier interrupción en la financiación del personal federal.

Las negociaciones parecieron estancarse el jueves por la noche, pero el ritmo al que habían avanzado en los últimos días subrayó el deseo de la Casa Blanca de evitar otra prolongada disputa por la financiación federal.

También representó un reconocimiento tácito de los riesgos políticos de ignorar la indignación pública por las duras tácticas de ICE.

Los líderes del Partido Republicano finalmente optaron por las demandas de los demócratas, eliminando el proyecto de ley del DHS del paquete de financiación más amplio y, en cambio, otorgando fondos temporalmente al departamento mientras ambos partidos debaten reformas más amplias al Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE), dijeron dos de las fuentes.

La prórroga de dos semanas para la financiación del DHS es el plazo que los demócratas del Senado habían estado impulsando y es más breve que la propuesta inicial de la Casa Blanca. Aun así, el presidente Donald Trump instó a los legisladores a respaldar el acuerdo.

“Republicanos y demócratas en el Congreso se han unido para conseguir la financiación de la gran mayoría del Gobierno hasta septiembre, a la vez que se otorga una prórroga al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (incluida la importantísima Guardia Costera, que estamos ampliando y reconstruyendo como nunca antes)”, escribió Trump en Truth Social tras el anuncio del acuerdo. “Esperemos que tanto republicanos como demócratas den el tan necesario voto bipartidista del ‘SÍ’”.

No todos se convencieron fácilmente.

By Lex Harvey, CNN

(CNN) — Yet another spat over territory is rocking the troubled US-Canada relationship – and it’s not a result of a Donald Trump threat to turn his northern neighbor into a 51st state.

This week, Canadian leader Mark Carney once again urged Trump to “respect Canadian sovereignty” after the Financial Times reported that State Department officials had met three times since last April with leaders of a group that wants to see the province of Alberta secede from Canada.

The group, named the Alberta Prosperity Project, has been pushing for a referendum on Alberta independence and, according to an X post by one of its leaders, plans to ask US Treasury officials for a $500 billion line of credit to “support the transition to a free and independent Alberta.”

A White House official downplayed US involvement to CNN, saying that “administration officials meet with a number of civil society groups. No support or commitments were conveyed.”

But the reports have sparked new anger in Canada as it seeks to present a united front against the Trump administration’s tariffs and threats to its territory. The leader of British Columbia, a neighboring province, likened the outreach by the Albertan group to “treason.”

Here’s what we know about the Alberta independence movement and the likelihood the province could break off from the rest of Canada.

What is Alberta?

Alberta is an oil-rich province in western Canada, roughly the size of Texas.

Home to about 5 million people, the province is crossed by the Rockies mountain range and tourist destinations including Banff and Lake Louise.

The province has a unique political and cultural identity, driven by its strong energy and agricultural sectors, commitment to economic individualism, and low taxes. Frequently dubbed “the energy province,” Alberta has oil sands that account for about 84% of Canada’s total crude oil production.

Politically, it is considered the bastion of conservatism in Canada, though its urban centers, Calgary and Edmonton, are more progressive.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been friendly with Trump and other Republicans, paying a visit to the president’s private Mar-a-Lago club last January. That’s come even as her counterparts in other provinces have banded together against Trump and his threats to annex Canada and undermine its economy.

Why do the separatists want independence from Canada?

Separatist Albertans have long felt like their interests are not well represented in Ottawa.

They argue the federal government’s efforts to stop climate change are holding back Alberta’s oil industry; that they pay more than they get back through federal taxes; and that their conservative values are drowned out by the more liberal and populous eastern provinces.

“Western alienation has existed since confederation and certainly since Alberta became a province in 1905,” said Michael Solberg, a partner at strategic advisory firm New West Public Affairs, who served as a political staffer in former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.

“Though, it tends to rise during periods when Albertans feel Ottawa is making decisions that directly harm their way of life.”

Federally mandated COVID-19 lockdowns and more than a decade of Liberal leadership in Ottawa precipitated just that, and the temperature has only picked up as the rest of Canada has united in patriotism against Trump.

Soon after Carney’s Liberals rode a wave of anti-Trump