The driver of a truck in which at least nine men were found dead alongside dozens suffering in sweltering conditions in San Antonio, Texas was expected to appear in court on Monday, over what authorities called a case of ruthless human trafficking.
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) — The driver of a truck in which at least nine men were found dead alongside dozens suffering in sweltering conditions in San Antonio, Texas was expected to appear in court on Monday, over what authorities called a case of ruthless human trafficking.
Thirty people, many in critical condition and suffering from heat stoke and exhaustion, were taken out of the vehicle parked outside a Walmart store that lacked air-conditioning or water supply, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said.
Outside temperatures topped 100 degrees F (37.8 C) .
Another person found in a wooded area nearby was being treated, the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said. All the dead were adult males.
«All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo, » said San Antonio-based U. S. Attorney Richard Durbin Jr.
«These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters. Imagine their suffering, trapped in a stifling trailer.»
The truck’s driver, named by the U. S. Attorney’s Office as James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Florida, was arrested, with a criminal complaint set to be filed in federal court in San Antonio on Monday.
Bradley is expected to have an initial court appearance soon after, the U. S. attorney said.
Several agencies have launched investigations into the case.
The dead men, who have not yet been identified, were discovered after officials were led to the trailer by a man who asked a Walmart employee for water.
San Antonio is about 150 miles (240 km) north of the Mexico border.
Mexico’s government said it deplored the deaths and that it had asked the authorities for an exhaustive investigation.
In a statement, it said its consul general in San Antonio was working to identify the victims’ nationalities and, if necessary, repatriate their remains to Mexico.
Raids on suspected illegal immigrants have increased across the United States in recent months, after President Donald Trump vowed to crack down on entrants without authorization or overstaying their visas.
In Texas alone, federal immigration agents arrested 123 illegal immigrants with criminal records in an eight-day operation ending last week.
The San Antonio deaths come more than a decade after what is considered the worst immigrant smuggling case in U. S. history, when 70 people were found stuffed into an 18-wheeler. Nineteen died in the incident in Victoria, Texas, about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of San Antonio, in May 2003.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said other suspects fled the scene as police arrived. Video showed «there were a number of vehicles that came and picked up other people who were in that trailer, » he said.
Twenty people were airlifted to hospitals in conditions ranging from critical to very critical, Hood said. Eight more are listed in less serious condition.
McManus said those in the truck, whose origins were unclear, ranged from school-age juveniles to adults in their 30s. He said the Department of Homeland Security had joined the investigation.
Experts have been warning that tougher immigration policies could make it harder to stop human trafficking. Measures tightening international borders encourage would-be migrants to turn to smugglers, while fear of deportation deters whistle-blowing, they said.
U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials defended the use of tough methods to fight human smuggling.
«So long as I lead ICE, there will be an unwavering commitment to use law enforcement assets to put an end to these practices, » the agency’s acting director, Thomas Homan, said in a statement.
The Border Patrol has regularly reported finding suspected immigrants in trucks along the U. S. border with Mexico.
This month, 72 Latin Americans were found in a trailer in Laredo. In June, 44 people were found in the back of a vehicle in the same Texas city, which lies directly across the Rio Grande from Mexico.
San Antonio has a policy of not inquiring about the immigration status of people who come into contact with city officials or police.
It was among several cities in Texas that filed a federal lawsuit last month to block a state law set to take effect in September that would force them to cooperate closely with immigration agents.
«San Antonio will not turn its back on any man, woman, or child in need, » Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a statement responding to the truck deaths.

Similarity rank: 12

Sentiment rank: -1.3

© Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-bodies-idUSKBN1A90RU?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

Congressional investigators probing Russia’s meddling in the U. S. election will have their first opportunity this week to hear from someone in President Donald Trump’s innermost…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators probing Russia’s meddling in the U. S. election will have their first opportunity this week to hear from someone in President Donald Trump’s innermost circle: son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Kushner, who is a senior adviser to the president and is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, will talk to staff on the Senate Intelligence Committee Monday behind closed doors. On Tuesday, he’ll talk privately to members of the House Intelligence Committee.
Both panels are investigating Russian interference and possible connections to Trump’s campaign. Kushner has attracted attention for a December meeting with a leading Russian diplomat. He oversaw digital strategy for the campaign, and some lawmakers have said they want more answers about whether Russian social media «trolls» were connected to Trump’s election efforts.
Kushner also attended a June 2016 meeting with Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer who Trump Jr. was told had damaging information about election rival Hillary Clinton. Congressional investigators have said they are interested in learning more about the meeting and want to talk to those who attended.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner, said ahead of the meetings that Kushner «has been and is prepared to voluntarily cooperate and provide whatever information he has on the investigations» to Congress.
«He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest, » Lowell said.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said on CBS’s «Face the Nation» Sunday that lawyers for Kushner had said they would make him available for two hours so «we expect this is just going to be the first interview» of the president’s son in law. He said the panel will have many questions for him.
Schiff says he wants to know more about the June 2016 meeting and a separate meeting Kushner had with the top executive of Russia’s state-supported VEB bank.
«We want to know whether those meetings took place, whether other meetings took place, we have a lot of ground to cover, » Schiff said.
Trump Jr. and Manafort were also scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week but avoided the public spectacle late Friday as their attorneys were in negotiations with that panel. The two men are now in discussions to be privately interviewed by staff or lawmakers, though the GOP chairman of the committee, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, has said they will eventually testify in public.
The president took to Twitter over the weekend to defend himself and repeat his criticism of the investigations. On Sunday, Trump tweeted: «As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians!»
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Similarity rank: 10.8

Sentiment rank: 0

© Source: http://www.cbs46.com/story/35952138/trump-son-in-law-kushner-heads-to-congress-in-russia-probe
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

The Senate will move forward with a key vote this week on a Republican health bill but it’s not yet known whether the legislation will seek to replace President Barack Obama’s health care law or simply repeal it.
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate will move forward with a key vote this week on a Republican health bill but it’s not yet known whether the legislation will seek to replace President Barack Obama’s health care law or simply repeal it.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will make a decision soon on which bill to bring up for a vote, depending on ongoing discussions with GOP senators. Thune sought to cast this week’s initial vote as important but mostly procedural, allowing senators to begin debate and propose amendments. But he acknowledged that senators should be able to know beforehand what bill they will be considering.
«That’s a judgment that Senator McConnell will make at some point this week before the vote, » Thune said, expressing his own hope it will be a repeal-and-replace measure. «But no matter which camp you’re in, you can’t have a debate about either unless we get on the bill. So we need a ‘yes’ vote.»
He said the procedural vote will be held «sometime this week.»
President Donald Trump has said he wants Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, but would accept a straight-repeal of the law if senators couldn’t reach agreement. In a sign of the high stakes involved, Trump exhorted senators anew Sunday night to pass health legislation. «If Republicans don’t Repeal and Replace the disastrous ObamaCare, the repercussions will be far greater than any of them understand!» Trump tweeted.
The Republican-controlled House in May narrowly passed its version of a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or «Obamacare.»
Senate Republicans are now considering two versions of similar legislation, one that would repeal and replace, and another that would simply repeal «Obamacare» with a two-year delay for implementation to give the Senate more time to agree on a replacement.
Both versions encountered opposition from enough GOP senators to doom the effort, but McConnell, R-Ky., is making a last-gasp attempt this week after Trump insisted that senators not leave town for the August recess without sending him some kind of health overhaul bill to sign.
In the Senate, Republicans hold a 52-48 majority. They can only afford to have one of their senators defect and still prevail on a health bill. That’s because Republican Sen. John McCain is in Arizona dealing with brain cancer, while Democrats are standing united in opposition. Vice President Mike Pence would cast a tie-breaking vote.
Thune said no matter the outcome of the upcoming vote, senators would continue working to pass health legislation no matter how long it took, having promised voters they would do so.
«We are going to vote to repeal and replace Obamacare, » he said, arguing that it was better if done sooner rather than later. «It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.»
Still, at least two Republican senators Sunday appeared to reaffirm their intention to vote against the procedural motion if it involved the latest version of the GOP’s repeal-and-replace bill.
Moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she continued to have concerns about reductions to Medicaid and criticized the Republican process, saying lawmakers were being unfairly kept in the dark. Under McConnell’s plan, 22 million more people would become uninsured by 2026, many of them Medicaid recipients. She wants to hold public hearings and work with Democrats.
«We don’t know whether we’re going to be voting on the House bill, the first version of the Senate bill, the second version of the Senate bill, a new version of the Senate bill, or a 2015 bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act, » Collins said. «I don’t think that’s a good approach to replacing legislation that affects millions of people.»
Conservative Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would only support a repeal-only bill. That version would reduce government costs but lead to 32 million additional uninsured people over a decade. At least three senators including Collins have previously expressed opposition to that plan.
«The real question is what are we moving to? What are we opening debate to? Last week, Senate leadership said it would be a clean repeal … and I think that’s a good idea, » Paul said. «The other alternative is the Senate leadership bill that doesn’t repeal Obamacare, is Obamacare light and is loaded with pork. … I’m not for that.»
Thune appeared on «Fox News Sunday, » Collins was on CBS’ «Face the Nation, » and Paul spoke on CNN’s «State of the Union.»
___
Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https: //twitter.com/hopeyen1

Similarity rank: 6.8

Sentiment rank: 0.2

TW posts: 0

TW reposts: 0

TW likes: 0

© Source: http://www.wral.com/gop-health-bill-still-a-mystery-before-planned-vote/16837144/
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.