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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Six Guatemalans were arrested in Guatemala and in Texas Monday on human smuggling charges linked to a 2021 semitrailer truck crash in Mexico that killed more than 50 migrants, authorities said.

The truck had been packed with at least 160 migrants, many of them Guatemalans, when it crashed into a support for a pedestrian bridge in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the southern state of Chiapas. The arrests were announced on the three-year anniversary of the accident.

According to an indictment unsealed Monday in Laredo, Texas, Guatemalan authorities arrested Tomas Quino Canil, 36; Alberto Marcario Chitic, 31; Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 24; and Josefa Quino Canil de Zavala, 42.

Another man, Jorge Agapito Ventura, was arrested at his home in Cleveland, Texas, U.S. authorities said. Guatemalan officials noted a sixth arrest. A sixth name listed on the U.S. federal indictment was blacked out.

The accused were charged with conspiracy, placing life in jeopardy, causing serious bodily injury, and resulting in death.

It was unclear late Monday if those arrested had attorneys in the United States who could comment on their behalf. Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to an email Monday night.

The indictment charges them with conspiring to smuggle migrants from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S. for payment. In some cases that involved smuggling unaccompanied children, the defendants would provide scripts of what to say if apprehended, the indictment said.

The smugglers would move migrants on foot, inside microbuses, cattle trucks and tractor trailers, the indictment said. It said the smugglers would use Facebook Messenger to request and deliver identification documents to the migrants to get them into the U.S.

“The tragedy that occurred three years ago today in Chiapas is further proof that human smugglers are ruthless, callous and dangerous, intending migrants should not believe their lives,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

Guatemalan Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez said the defendants were part of a criminal structure called Los Quino, and that U.S. officials had requested extradition of the four arrested in Guatemala.

Authorities executed 15 search warrants across Guatemala on Monday, Jiménez said. He said they had the support of the U.S. and Mexican governments.

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This story has been updated to correct Oswaldo Zavala Quino’s middle name. It is Manuel, not Manuael.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — As President-elect Donald Trump assembles his administration, Republican governors and lawmakers in some states are already rolling out proposals that could help him carry out his pledge to deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally.

Lawmakers in a growing number of states are proposing to give local law officers the power to arrest people who entered the country illegally, mirroring recent laws in Texas and elsewhere that have been placed on hold while courts weigh whether they unconstitutionally usurp federal authority.

Other legislation filed ahead of next year’s legislative sessions would require local law enforcement agencies to notify federal immigration officials when they take someone into custody who is in the country illegally, even if the charges have nothing to do with their immigration status. Though not specifically requested by Trump, many of the state proposals would complement his immigration policies.

“We would be finding people who are in violation of this law, and we would be sort of hand-delivering them to the nearest port of deportation so that they could be removed in a safe and orderly fashion,” said Missouri state Sen. Curtis Trent, who is sponsoring one of the proposals.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that 11 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. as of 2022, the latest statistics available. While campaigning, Trump talked about creating “the largest mass deportation program in history” and called for using the National Guard and domestic police forces in the effort.

Some Democratic-led states already are raising resistance. The California Legislature has convened a special session to try to shield people from potential Trump policies, including by boosting legal aid for immigrants facing deportation.

Lawmakers in numerous states are likely to try to thwart or cooperate with Trump’s immigration agenda, Tim Storey, CEO of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said Monday.

In Missouri, Trent’s bill would empower local law officers to arrest people for a new state crime of “improper entry by an alien,” punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and a court-ordered ride to the U.S. border.

A separate bill by Missouri state Sen.-elect David Gregory would offer a $1,000 reward to informants who tip off police about people in the country illegally and allow private bounty hunters to find and detain them.

Missouri’s Republican Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe hasn’t endorsed a specific legislative plan after campaigning against illegal immigration and the scourge of fentanyl smuggled across the U.S. border. But he told The Associated Press: “If they’re here illegally, it definitely should trigger something more than it does now.”

Immigrant advocacy groups already are raising alarm about some state proposals. Missouri’s proposed bounty system would “create absolute chaos and division,” said Ashley DeAzevedo, president of American Families United, which advocates for U.S. citizens married to foreign nationals.

Although many Americans support a path to citizenship for people living in the U.S. illegally, support for deportation also has grown. More than 4 in 10 voters said most immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally should be deported to the country they came from, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in this year’s election. That’s up from about 3 in 10 in 2020. More than half of voters said most immigrants in the U.S. illegally should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, down from about 7 in 10 who said this in 2020, according to AP VoteCast.

Many Republicans point to Texas as a model for immigration enforcement. Its $11 billion Operation Lone Star program has erected razor wire and other barriers along the Mexican border, stationed state troopers and Texas National Guard members in border towns and bused thousands of migrants to Democratic-led “sanctuary cities” such as New York, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington. Texas law officers also have made tens of thousands of arrests, including many for trespassing on private property.

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” visited Texas last month and said its border security tactics can be a model for the Trump administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office confirmed that it’s been in regular contact with Trump’s team about strategies.

Following Texas’ lead, Republican-led legislatures in Iowa, Louisiana and Oklahoma passed measures allowing law officers to arrest people who are in the U.S. illegally. Shortly after Trump’s election, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced he was working on a plan to deport some of the more than 500 immigrants currently in Oklahoma prisons who are not legal citizens.

Arizona voters last month also approved a ballot measure letting local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering from Mexico, though it won’t kick in until a similar law in Texas or another state has been in effect for 60 consecutive days.

Other Republican state measures seek to boost cooperation between local law officers and federal immigration officials.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently announced an initiative to improve coordination with federal officials to identify undocumented immigrants in the state’s criminal justice system and turn them over for deportation. Cox said there will be “zero tolerance” for “those who demonstrate a threat to public safety while in the country illegally.”

A Georgia law enacted earlier this year requires jailers to check the immigration status of inmates and apply to help enforce federal immigration laws. The measure gained traction after the murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley. A Venezuelan man who had entered the U.S. illegally was convicted of killing her and sentenced to life in prison.

North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature last month overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to enact a law directing sheriffs to comply with federal immigration agents’ requests to hold inmates. That came after several Democratic sheriffs from urban counties refused to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Other Democratic governors dealing with Republican-led legislatures are pushing back against the potential for sweeping deportation plans. Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she supports deporting people who commit crimes while living in the U.S. illegally, but she won’t send out the National Guard to help enforce federal immigration laws.

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who also faces a Republican-led Legislature, said undocumented immigrants “are a really important part of our economy” in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.

“Trying to move them out of the country is irrational,” Evers said. “So, we’ll do whatever we can to avoid that.”

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Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson-Deveaux in Washington and writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that in a study conducted by The Action Network, Texas has been identified as the state with the highest risk of porch piracy, th 29.8% probability of package theft. This result comes just after National Package Protection Day on Wednesday, drawing attention to the issue of package theft across the nation. The findings indicated that 5% of Texans have reported having a package stolen within the last three months. Mail is the most susceptible to be stolen followed by Amazon ackages according to the report. North Carolina ranks as the second-most affected state, with a 14.4% implied probability of porch piracy. Meanwhile, Florida, coming in third, reported a staggering 3,270 cases of theft from residences in the previous year.

AUSTIN – KUT reports that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is asking the federal government to let the state continue to approve its own environmental reviews — a delegated authority intended to fast-track highway projects. The public has until Monday night to weigh in on the arrangement that critics have long skewered as “the fox guarding the hen house.” Since 2014, TxDOT has operated under the agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), allowing the state agency to assume responsibility for environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Those reviews analyze the impact of highway projects on everything from air and water to homes, businesses and historical sites. TxDOT says the sweeping powers delegated to the state streamline efforts to avoid “substantial delays in the delivery of important transportation projects,” shaving months off the environmental review process.

“TxDOT is still subject to the same statutory and regulatory requirements that would apply without NEPA assignment, and our agency takes the responsibility for ensuring compliance with those requirements seriously,” TxDOT spokesperson Adam Hammons said in an e-mail. “Over the past ten years, TxDOT has been subject to multiple audits and monitoring events by FHWA.” One FHWA monitoring report issued this year found TxDOT was in violation of federal regulations related to the installation of traffic noise barriers. The report said the state was making changes to come into compliance. Critics of the arrangement say the self-certification process known as “NEPA assignment” doesn’t result in the rigorous reviews intended under federal law, especially for large-scale projects like the expansion of I-35 through Austin. “The federal government does not have the same vested interest in pushing through these projects that TxDOT does,” said Addie Walker with Reconnect Austin, a group that’s pushed for burying I-35 through Central Austin. “They have a really strong interest in pushing these projects through, and especially with NEPA assignment, no real incentive to slow down, listen to what the community and local and regional governments are saying.”

AUSTIN – KUT reports that new testing results show Austin has little to no traces of forever chemicals in its drinking water. Exposure to these chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, have been linked to prostate and kidney cancers, thyroid conditions, decreased fertility and other health problems. PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they take thousands of years to break down. The chemicals are “bioaccumulative,” meaning they build up in an organism faster than they can be excreted. Over 1 million people in the greater Austin area get their drinking water from the Highland Lakes. Out of the 29 PFAS compounds Austin Water officials tested in the lakes, only faint traces of six were detected. The test results were verified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Water samples were tested at each of Austin’s three water treatment plants four times over the past year. At the Handcox Water Treatment Plant, none of the tested PFAS compounds were found. PFAS are found in seemingly everything, including clothes, nonstick pans, cosmetics and probably your bloodstream. The EPA announced earlier this year that it would start regulating five of the most dangerous PFAS. So far, almost 50 Texas water systems have reported PFAS levels exceeding the new limits, two of which are in Williamson County. Water systems in Seguin and San Antonio have also reported levels exceeding the limits. The EPA estimated that somewhere between 6% and 10% of all public water systems will fail the new guidelines. But Austin didn’t. Why? Kasi Clay, the water quality manager for Austin Water, said the results are thanks to protections on the Highland Lakes. “Our drinking water is less impacted by industries and activities that can introduce PFAS,” she said. Clay said traces of PFAS found in Austin’s drinking water were so low they were barely even testable.

TERRELL — A police officer was fatally shot Sunday night while conducting a traffic stop in Terrell, Texas, police said.

The officer, 28-year-old Jacob Candanoza, called for a cover unit upon initiating the traffic stop around 11 p.m., the Terrell Police Department said. But before backup could arrive, police said they received two 911 calls about an officer being shot.

Responding officers found Candanoza at the scene with gunshot wounds, according to police.

He was transported to the hospital, where he died, police said.

The suspected shooter was arrested early Monday, police said, but did not immediately disclose his name. Candanoza was able to provide a license plate to dispatchers that aided in the suspect’s capture, Lt. Mary Hauger, spokesperson for the Terrell Police Department said.

Candanoza had joined the Terrell Police Department in July. He served in the Marines from 2014 to 2019 and previously worked for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, according to Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA.

“Our deepest condolences go out to his family as they navigate this tragic time,” the Terrell Police Department said in a statement.

Terrell is located about 30 miles east of Dallas.

“Please join Cecilia & me in praying for the family & friends of Officer Jacob Candanoza, who lost his life last night in the line of duty,” Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott wrote on X. “Our hearts go out to his loved ones & to the Terrell Police Department.”

AUSTIN (AP) – A bankruptcy judge scrutinizing The Onion’s bid for Alex Jones ’ Infowars platform was expected to hear a second day of testimony Tuesday after an auctioneer defended the satirical news outlet’s winning offer in November.

It is not clear how quickly U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston will decide whether to approve the bid. The Onion, which wants to turn Infowars’ website and social media accounts into parodies, offered $1.75 million for Infowars’ assets in the auction.

Jones did not attend Monday’s start of the key hearing and instead continued to broadcast from his studios in Austin.

Jeff Tanenbaum, president of ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, was grilled by lawyers for Jones and the company in a Houston courtroom on Monday over how The Onion’s bid came to be valued at $7 million and why a live auction was not held. He defended both the value of the bid and its selection after the two sealed offers were opened.

Lopez could ultimately decide whether to void The Onion’s bid, name the Jones-affiliated company the winner or hold another auction, among other possibilities.

Jones and First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements and submitted the other bid, are alleging fraud and collusion in the auction that concluded on Nov. 14. The trustee and The Onion deny the allegations, accusing Jones and the company of sour grapes. First United American Companies bid $3.5 million.
Alex Jones’ bankruptcy case

The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas filed by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. Jones repeatedly called the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors and aimed at increasing gun control.

Most of the proceeds from the sale of Infowars, as well as many of Jones’ personal assets, will go to the Sandy Hook families to help satisfy judgments issued by juries and judges in state courts in Connecticut and Texas. Some proceeds will go to Jones’ other creditors.

The Onion’s bid also included a pledge by many of the Sandy Hook families to forgo some or all of the auction proceeds due to them to give other creditors a total of $100,000 more than they would receive under other bids.
Auctioneer defends The Onion’s bid

The trustee, Christopher Murray, chose The Onion, saying its proposal was better for creditors because they would receive more money. The Onion valued the bid, with the Sandy Hook families’ offer, at $7 million, because that amount was equal to a purchase price that would provide the same amount of money to the other creditors.

Tanenbaum testified that he agreed with the $7 million valuation and believed The Onion’s bid conformed to the auction rules.

A lawyer for Jones, Ben Broocks, asked Tanenbaum how it was possible that the Sandy Hook families’ offer boosted The Onion’s offer to such a high amount.

“It means the purchase price value has gone up because another purchase price would have to be higher than that value in order to provide the same net benefit to that group of creditors,” Tanenbaum said.

During his opening argument, Broocks said there was no way The Onion should have been chosen over First United American.

“How does a $1.75 million bid beat a $3.5 million bid?” he asked. “How is that $1.75 million greater? Well, it’s voodoo economics to use a phrase.”

Joshua Wolfshohl, an attorney for Murray, told the judge Monday that no wrongdoing occurred during the auction. He called the complaints by Jones and First United American Companies unfounded.

“The vast majority of their complaints are just fantastic, imagined conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality,” he said.

Murray, The Onion and the Sandy families deny allegations of wrongdoing. In his own court filing, Murray called the allegations “a disappointed bidder’s improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.”
Putting Infowars up for auction

Up for sale at the auction were all the equipment and other assets in the Infowars studio in Austin, Texas, as well as its social media accounts, websites, video archive and product trademarks. Jones uses the studio to broadcast his far-right, conspiracy theory-filled shows on the Infowars website, his account on the social platform X and radio stations.

Jones has set up another studio, websites and social media accounts in case The Onion wins approval to buy Infowars and kicks him out. Jones has said he could continue using the Infowars platforms if the auction winner is friendly to him.

Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments citing free speech rights but has acknowledged that the school shooting happened.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump said he can’t guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won’t raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned.

The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere.

Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning “things do change.”

A look at some of the issues covered:

Trump hems on whether trade penalties could raise prices

Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists’ predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher domestic prices for consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. an households won’t be paying more as they shop.

“I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, seeming to open the door to accepting the reality of how import levies typically work as goods reach the retail market.

That’s a different approach from Trump’s typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation.

In the interview, Trump defended tariffs generally, saying that tariffs are “going to make us rich.”

He has pledged that, on his first day in office in January, he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada unless those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. He also has threatened tariffs on China to help force that country to crack down on fentanyl production.

”All I want to do is I want to have a level, fast, but fair playing field,” Trump said.

Trump suggests retribution for his opponents while claiming no interest in vengeance

He offered conflicting statements on how he would approach the justice system after winning election despite being convicted of 34 felonies in a New York state court and being indicted in other cases for his handling of national security secrets and efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of members of Congress who investigated the Capitol riot by his supporters who wanted him to remain in power.

The president-elect underscored his contention that he can use the justice system against others, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, who led the case on Trump’s role in the siege on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump confirmed his plan to pardon supporters who were convicted for their roles in the riot, saying he would take that action on his first day in office.

As for the idea of revenge driving potential prosecutions, Trump said: “I have the absolute right. I’m the chief law enforcement officer, you do know that. I’m the president. But I’m not interested in that.”

At the same time, Trump singled out lawmakers on a special House committee who had investigated the insurrection, citing Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

“Cheney was behind it … so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” Trump said.

Asked specifically whether he would direct his administration to pursue cases, he said, “No,” and suggested he did not expect the FBI to quickly undertake investigations into his political enemies.

But at another point, Trump said he would leave the matter up to Pam Bondi, his pick as attorney general. “I want her to do what she wants to do,” he said.

Such threats, regardless of Trump’s inconsistencies, have been taken seriously enough by many top Democrats that Biden is considering issuing blanket, preemptive pardons to protect key members of his outgoing administration.

Trump did seemingly back off his campaign rhetoric calling for Biden to be investigated, saying, “I’m not looking to go back into the past.”

Swift action on immigration is coming

Trump repeatedly mentioned his promises to seal the U.S.-Mexico border and deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally through a mass deportation program.

“I think you have to do it,” he said.

He suggested he would try to use executive action to end “birthright” citizenship under which people born in the U.S. are considered citizens — although such protections are spelled out in the Constitution.

Asked specifically about the future for people who were brought into the country illegally as children and have been shielded from deportation in recent years, Trump said, “I want to work something out,” indicating he might seek a solution with Congress.

But Trump also said he does not “want to be breaking up families” of mixed legal status, “so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”

Trump commits to NATO, with conditions, and waffles on Putin and Ukraine

Long a critic of NATO members for not spending more on their own defense, Trump said he “absolutely” would remain in the alliance “if they pay their bills.”

Pressed on whether he would withdraw if he were dissatisfied with allies’ commitments, Trump said he wants the U.S. treated “fairly” on trade and defense.

He waffled on a NATO priority of containing Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

Trump suggested Ukraine should prepare for less U.S. aid in its defense against Putin’s invasion. “Possibly. Yeah, probably. Sure,” Trump said of reducing Ukraine assistance from Washington. Separately, Trump has called for an immediate cease-fire.

Asked about Putin, Trump said initially that he has not talked to the Russian leader since Election Day last month, but then hedged: “I haven’t spoken to him recently.” Trump said when pressed, adding that he did not want to “impede the negotiation.”

Trump says Powell is safe at the Fed, but not Wray at the FBI

The president-elect said he has no intention, at least for now, of asking Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to step down before Powell’s term ends in 2028. Trump said during the campaign that presidents should have more say in Fed policy, including interest rates.

Trump did not offer any job assurances for FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose term is to end in 2027.

Asked about Wray, Trump said: “Well, I mean, it would sort of seem pretty obvious” that if the Senate confirms Kash Patel as Trump’s pick for FBI chief, then “he’s going to be taking somebody’s place, right? Somebody is the man that you’re talking about.”

Trump is absolute about Social Security, not so much on abortion and health insurance

Trump promised that the government efficiency effort led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will not threaten Social Security. “We’re not touching Social Security, other than we make it more efficient,” he said. He added that “we’re not raising ages or any of that stuff.”

He was not so specific about abortion or his long-promised overhaul of the Affordable Care Act.

On abortion, Trump continued his inconsistencies and said he would “probably” not move to restrict access to the abortion pills that now account for a majority of pregnancy terminations, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. But pressed on whether he would commit to that position, Trump replied, “Well, I commit. I mean, are — things do — things change. I think they change.”

Reprising a line from his Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump again said he had “concepts” of a plan to substitute for the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which he called “lousy health care.”

He added a promise that any Trump version would maintain insurance protections for Americans with preexisting health conditions. He did not explain how such a design would be different from the status quo or how he could deliver on his desire for “better healthcare for less money.”