Today is
Saturday July 18, 2026
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires that has engulfed the Northeast in haze is expected to mostly clear from the New Jersey area just in time for the World Cup final on Sunday, thanks to thunderstorms passing through the area, meteorologists say.
Warnings of unhealthy air quality remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the United States. At MetLife Stadium, where the final is taking place, it rained heavily and thunder boomed. State police urged people to leave the stadium seating bowl and field and take shelter. Volunteers and staff dashed inside for cover as ponchos were handed out. The sky was the same thick, soupy gray it has been for days.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill warned residents Saturday about the potential for damaging winds, tornadoes, flash flooding and large hail, and flooding caused scattered street closures in New York. Spain’s training session ahead of the final against Argentina was suspended at a field near the stadium because of the storms and lighting in the area. And FIFA said it was in close contact with local authorities as it continues to monitor the impacts from the wildfire smoke and the storms on the conditions on field at MetLife Stadium.
President Donald Trump faulted Canada for the smoke crossing the border and threatened tariffs in response. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said threats from the United States were unacceptable and shortsighted.
Storms will help clear the air
This storm front will largely move the smoke out of the Northeast before the final between Spain and Argentina, said Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. MetLife Stadium, which has been renamed the New York/New Jersey Stadium for the matches, is an open-air stadium.
“There could be some lingering smoke that would make things hazy, but very faint,” Roys said. “In terms of the thickest smoke, the smoke that has really been eye-popping and leads to poor air quality, that is not expected across New York City or much of the Northeast.”
Meteorologist says the air quality for the game ‘won’t be dangerous’
WFLA-TV Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist Jeff Berardelli, in Tampa, Florida, echoed that, saying the storm front would “sweep the atmosphere clean,” leaving only a thin smoke that World Cup spectators may still smell in the air.
The air quality index shows an improvement from unhealthy air for sensitive groups on Saturday to “moderate” air quality Sunday in East Rutherford, which means little to no health risk for the general public.
“It won’t be dangerous anymore,” Berardelli said. “It’s going to be dramatically better.”
The smoke could still cause issues for people who are sensitive to particulate matter, and they should check the air quality index particularly in the morning, said Rob Shackelford, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel app and weather.com.
Air quality at the field is measured every 10 minutes, said David Lu, CEO and co-founder of Clarity Movement, an environmental technology company providing air quality monitoring services. In the past two days, the readings have swung between the level where the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups and the level where it’s very unhealthy, Lu said. He said Saturday afternoon he expects to see improvement in the readings within hours because of the rain.
Temperatures are forecast to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), with light breezes and low humidity for the start of the final.
“You couldn’t have asked for much better weather for the World Cup,” Berardelli added.
Both Roys and Berardelli expect the heavier smoke Sunday to be concentrated closer to the fires, hanging over parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region.
Trump talks of new tariffs on Canada
The president made no mention of the World Cup final but said on his social media platform, “We are holding Canada responsible.” He added that the U.S. “is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the topic of U.S. officials complaining about smoke from during a news conference Thursday. Carney said climate change is the responsibility of everyone, including the United States.
Ford said Canada has contributed to fighting fires in the U.S. and offered assistance when Georgia was hit by a hurricane in 2024 because “that’s what neighbors do.” Ford called the rhetoric “absolutely unacceptable” when Canada is “trying to get through this.”
There are hundreds of active fires in Canada
Wildfires have been igniting across Canada and northern Minnesota this month. Berardelli said they are burning longer and faster because of climate change. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System showed hundreds of active fires Saturday. Environment Canada issued air quality warnings across the country and into the Northwest Territories.
The fires prompted evacuations, including in Nova Scotia where there’s a large fire that local and provincial crews have been fighting since Wednesday, and in northwestern Ontario, where some of the most intense fires are burning.
In Ontario, nearly 200 wildfires have already scorched more land than all of last year’s fires. In Thunder Bay, Ontario, Fire Chief Dave Tarini said this fire season is unprecedented in his more than 35 years as a firefighter.
In British Columbia, about 100 fires are burning, a huge jump from the 20 firefighters were facing Wednesday. The BC Wildfire Service says the fires are largely the result of 4,000 lightning strikes that hit the province Friday.
(NEW YORK) -- The family of a Westchester grandmother who died after falling into an open manhole in Midtown Manhattan filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the utility responsible for the manhole, alleging its workers failed to properly seal the cover.
Donike Goncaj, 56, fell into the manhole at 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue on May 18 and died of scald burns and thermal inhalation from the steam. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court on Thursday, says she suffered "severe, horrifying, and catastrophic injuries."
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Goncaj's death an accident.
The utility, Con Edison, concluded a truck ran over the manhole and dislodged the cover and noted in a statement in May that "while this is a rare occurrence, manhole covers can get displaced by heavy vehicles."
The lawsuit, filed by Goncaj's son on behalf of her estate, and her domestic partner, alleged ConEdison "should have known that dislodged and displaced manhole covers presented a recurring and foreseeable danger to pedestrians" and accused the utility of negligence, carelessness and reckless disregard for their mother's safety.
Someone falling to their death in a manhole "ordinarily does not occur in the absence of negligence," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit contended that ConEd and its contractors "had a duty to maintain" the manhole "in reasonably safe conditions," including warning pedestrians and providing a ladder or staircase to exit it.
ConEd did not immediately comment on the suit. In May, it said it was investigating the situation and working with the city in its probe.
"Our thoughts remain with her family, and safety remains our top priority," ConEd said in a statement a day after the incident.
According to the lawsuit, Goncaj's domestic partner, Jashar Kameraj, witnessed her falling into the scalding hot manhole and tried to rescue her, to no avail.
Kameraj and Goncaj's son are seeking unspecified damages.
-ABC News' Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) -- Dangerous smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires has seeped down to the U.S., impacting over 100 million Americans across more than a dozen states.
Air quality alerts on Friday stretch from the Midwest to the Great Lakes to the Northeast to the Mid-Atlantic, impacting major cities including Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
Canada has nearly 900 wildfires burning, with over 100 categorized as out of control. Almost 200 of the fires are in Ontario.
Heavy rain by the Minnesota/Canada border on Friday may help with some fires, but the storms could also bring strong winds and lightning, which can spark new fires and create more erratic fire activity.
Passing showers and thunderstorms are also possible in Ontario Friday, but that rain won't be enough to put the wildfires out, and the winds may make conditions worse and lightning could spark new wildfires. There are more chances for rain over Ontario on Saturday and again on Tuesday.
In the U.S., the smoke Friday spans from Duluth, Minnesota, to Richmond, Virginia, impacting states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
Philadelphia issued a "Code Purple Air Quality Emergency Day" Friday.
"Everyone may experience negative health effects from particulate matter in the air," Philadelphia officials warned. "Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects."
The worst air quality Friday afternoon is in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
In Milwaukee, where the air is in the hazardous category, the Milwaukee Brewers are allowing ticket holders to exchange tickets for Friday night's game for another regular season home game.
The air is expected to improve on Saturday in the Ohio Valley, Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic, when rain moves in. But parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes will continue to see dangerous air quality.
Smoke is probable over New York City on Sunday when Spain plays Argentina in the FIFA World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, though it is still too early to know exactly where the smoke will be. Sources familiar with the situation told ABC News that "all involved authorities are monitoring."
Smoke contains fine particles that can travel deep into the lungs. For those who need to work outdoors, are more sensitive to smoke or are in a high-risk group, Kai Chen, an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News that the best type of mask to wear is an N95, which is designed to filter at least 95% of airborne particles.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said free KN95 masks are available at hundreds of locations.
Click here to read more on how to stay safe.
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(SAN FRANCISCO) -- The body of a 58-year-old woman has been recovered after a boat capsized and sank near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, marking the second person confirmed dead from the incident.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office identified the second victim as Tondra Madruga. Two people remain missing.
Madruga's relatives said in a statement that they're "heartbroken by the loss of our beloved mother, daughter, sister, and aunt."
"Our hearts remain with every family impacted, and we sincerely appreciate your kindness and understanding," the family said. "We extend our heartfelt thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard, the San Francisco Fire Department, the San Francisco Police Department, all of the first responders, and the civilian boaters and community members who selflessly assisted in the search and rescue efforts. Your dedication and support mean more to our family than words can express."
Authorities said they believe 20 people were aboard the Volare, a 50-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, California, when it was hit by a wave Tuesday evening, causing it to capsize.
One man who was aboard was taken to the shore severely injured and, despite CPR being administered, was pronounced dead, officials said. He was identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa.
A dog also died, San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said.
Three people were taken to the hospital and later released, Crispen said.
Crispen told reporters that authorities believe there was a memorial service that the 20 passengers, all adults and mostly comprised of family members, were taking part in on the vessel when it capsized. One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.
The Coast Guard announced Wednesday that it suspended search operations
Jarod Toczko, commander for U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said the decision to suspend the search was not easy, but his teams swept through 950 square nautical miles and hadn't found the missing people or the boat.
Toczko said there was a "high possibility that individuals could have been trapped in the vessel."
Rescuer Justin Marceline told KGO that some passengers were "banging on the windows, trying to get out" of the boat.
"It was pretty wild, seeing that, honestly," Marceline said, adding that conditions in the water were "really bad."
"The people that were bobbing in the water, we pulled them out first," Marceline said. "The people in the water were elderly folks, they were conscious, but people were too tired and worn out."
Toczko praised those who jumped to save the passengers.
"No question, no doubt...those people saved lives," he said.
ABC News' Emily Shapiro and Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) -- A bird strike likely caused last year's tourist helicopter crash in New York City's Hudson River that killed all six people on board, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The more than 2,000 pages of information released by the NTSB is not the final report and does not state the probable cause, but the documents show the chopper slammed into multiple large birds before the crash.
The birds hit the rotor blades and the horizontal stabilizer, according to an analysis by the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Lab. Samples of “mixed species” of birds were found, including Canada Geese and black-backed Gull. Canadian Geese can sometimes weigh more than 10 pounds each.
Videos showed the rotors flying off the helicopter as it plummeted to the water.
The chopper crashed into the Hudson in April 2025 while carrying a pilot and a family from Spain: Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children.
One witness told ABC News she watched the helicopter "fall out of the sky" from her apartment window.
"I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river," she said.
Bird strikes are common; there were 20,876 bird strikes to civilian aircraft in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Wildlife strikes to Civil Aircraft report.
It is not clear when the NTSB’s final report -- which will list the probable cause of the crash -- will be released.
ABC News has reached out to the helicopter company for comment. New York Helicopter Charter inc. shutdown following the crash.
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(WASHINGTON) -- A new bill in Washington, D.C., would allow foster youth to help define their own families — and it's crafted by the very young people it seeks to serve.
Former and current foster youth helped create the Support, Opportunity, Unity and Legal Relationships Act, known as the SOUL Act. It's a Washington, D.C., bill that would allow teens -- ages 16 and up -- to legally enlist multiple guardians, blood relatives or other trusted adults for support without having to completely cut legal ties to their birth parents.
Five of the youth involved in the legislation process sat down with ABC News' Alex Presha in an exclusive interview for ABC News Live Prime.
The SOUL Act, which received unanimous support in the D.C. City Council, was signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser and sent to Congress where it has bipartisan support. It's expected to take effect in September.
Kay Kay, 26, was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and placed in the foster care system when she was eight years old. She and the other foster youth advocates did not want to give their last names to ABC News for privacy reasons.
Kay Kay said her mother -- who was raising her and her four sisters alone -- just didn't have the resources to care for them. "My mom did what she could," Kay Kay told ABC News. "We all knew we was in poverty."
She said she shuffled between foster homes and relatives until she turned 16 years old. Kay Kay learned to advocate for herself, figuring out her rights and speaking up as a teenager. She said she demanded that social workers include her in decisions about her own life.
"I was just speaking up for myself, like in an advocacy role," Kay Kay said. "I thought I just always was an advocate for myself, for people, for thing. ... I just always had that spirit in me." That experience is what motivated her to team up with other current and former foster youth to help make a difference for the next generation.
"This would be the first permanency plan embracing that social norms and a family dynamic look different for each and every person," Cierra, 28, a foster youth advocate and former foster child who worked on the bill, said to Washington, D.C., councilmembers during a council hearing she attended to advocate for the bill. Kay Kay, along with over 20 other youths who lived through D.C.'s foster care system, were enlisted by the Children's Law Center and Family & Youth Initiative to craft the legislation.
If successful, our nation's capital would be the second jurisdiction with a law like this on the books. Kansas passed similar legislation in 2024.
Through the SOUL Act, trusted adults who are chosen by youth and have been approved by the city, can aid them in making decisions about education, financial management, accessing health care and can even provide financial assistance and a home for them to live in.
"Your family can be your coach, your family can be your teacher, your family can be that auntie, uncle, cousin," Princess, 27, an advocate and former foster child who worked on the bill, said in an interview with Presha. "Your family can, should be, and will always be your choice, no matter what anybody tells you. And I hope that they carry that within their hearts."
Many D.C. teens choose to stay in the foster care system for resources, like education programs, housing placement and an assigned social worker after they age out, according to the Children's Law Center. And while some have family members who can support them in certain ways, not all can provide a stable place to live. Under the new law, teens would be able to build their "SOUL family" and maintain that stability.
Youths who age out of foster care without support are more likely to experience housing insecurity, incarceration, unemployment, or have children at an early age, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
According to federal data, between 15,000 to 20,000 young people a year exit the foster care system -- nationally -- without adoption, a legal guardian or reunification with their biological family. In D.C., 18% of foster youth age out of the system without that support -- twice the rate of the national average.
The estimated annual cost of a "SOUL family" in Washington, D.C., is about half of the price for a current foster care placement -- $24,000 per year vs. $45,000 per year — according to the Children's Law Center.
"I'm hoping that the youth can have something that I never had...Every child deserves a great childhood," said 19-year-old- Zaniya.
Cierra continued, "I believe that there is a youth who's coming after me who deserves a community...doesn't matter about your behavior, doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter where you came from. You deserve to have a family."
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(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) -- A teenager has been arrested in the 2025 fatal shooting of three people outside of a DMV in Kentucky. Another shooter remains at large, police said.
The unnamed teen, who was 17 years old at the time of the murders, has been charged with three counts of murder complicity, five counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and receiving stolen property, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The teen is now 19 years old, according to police.
The teen was identified as one of the three shooters after police used a DNA profiles obtained from a stolen vehicle to tie him to the killings, according to the LMPD.
Investigators believe a second shooter was killed in a separate incident and said they are working to identify the third shooter.
The February 2025 shooting happened outside the Driver's License Regional office in Valley Station, Kentucky, according to LMPD.
The three shooters allegedly approached a line of people standing in line to go into the DMV and opened fire toward the line, fatally shooting three people, Louisville Metro Police Department Lt. Les Skaggs said at a press conference Thursday.
Leslye Harbin Jr., 18, died at the scene while his mother, 33-year-old Antwanette Chillers, and another victim, 29-year-old Raysa Valdes, were taken to a hospital where they died, Skaggs said.
The three shooters fled the scene of the shooting in a vehicle, Skaggs said.
LMPD marked vehicles were parked near the scene while officers were at a business next door, according to Skaggs. By the time the officers reached the scene the suspects had fled, Skaggs said.
Shortly after the shooting, police identified a suspect vehicle, enabling them to track the vehicle’s movements. Investigators were able to recover the vehicle the same day, police said.
The vehicle was stolen from a dealership, but the dealership had not noticed the vehicle was missing until after the shooting had occurred, according to Skaggs. It had been stolen several days before the shooting, he said.
Investigators obtained evidence from the vehicle, which was sent to DNA Labs International. DNA Labs International was able to get several DNA profiles from inside the vehicle, Skaggs said.
In the last 17 months, detectives have written and served around 50 search warrants to obtain evidence that helped them identify the individual arrested Wednesday, Skaggs said.
The DNA profiles have also helped investigators identify other people who may be involved in the murder, Skaggs said.
One possible suspect identified by the DNA profile has since been murdered in a separate incident, police said.
Police are still working to identify the third suspect in this incident.
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(MINNEAPOLIS) -- Minneapolis' air quality ranked the worst in the world among major cities Thursday due to thick smoke from wildfires burning throughout northern Minnesota and Ontario, Canada.
Much of the city's air quality entered the "hazardous" category Wednesday night and remained there into Thursday.
Parts of the city reached an air quality index, or AQI, of 460. A hazardous AQI is categorized as 300 and above.
The air quality in Detroit also ranked worst in the world alongside Minneapolis.
All people are advised to remain indoors while the air quality is hazardous.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged residents to "please take this seriously" in a post on X Thursday morning.
"If you can, stay indoors, avoid activity outside, and keep indoor air as clean as possible," Frey said in the post. "The risks are greater for kids, older adults, and anyone with heart or lung conditions."
As of midday Wednesday, there are 15 active wildfires burning across Superior National Forest, including four in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service noted several fires have merged since earlier reports.
In a press briefing Wednesday, officials warned the fires could keep burning until the fall.
While light rain is in the forecast in northern Minnesota on Thursday, Phil Manuel, incident meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said in the briefing it would not be enough to put out the fires.
"How are we going to end this? Weather's going to have to change," Manuel said. "It takes rain with a name to put out big fires."
The fires in northern Minnesota come amid a slew of wildfires raging throughout Canada, which are sending dangerous smoke down to the Northeast and upper Midwest of the United States.
More than 183 wildfires were burning in Ontario on Wednesday, its Ministry of Natural Resources reported.
The Minnesota fires spread so rampantly because of hot, dry and windy conditions, as well as increased lightning strikes, officials said during the briefing.
Temperatures in the area recently rose into the 100s, while they typically only get to the upper 70s at this time of year, Manuel said.
First responders conducted door-to-door evacuations to bring residents and visitors to safety, and were continuing evacuations as of Wednesday, according to officials.
Firefighters continue working to extinguish the fires in coordination with Canadian first responders.
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(KATY, Texas) -- The driver in a deadly Tesla crash in Texas pressed the accelerator to 100% before colliding into a house, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
On June 19, the driver, Michael Butler, was behind the wheel of a 2025 Tesla Model 3 electric car when it went off the road and crashed into a home in Katy, killing 76-year-old resident Marta Avila, officials said.
Butler, who said the car was in self-driving mode, was arrested for manslaughter on July 1. He's not entered a plea and is set to be arraigned next month.
The NTSB said on Wednesday that, at the time of the collision, "the driver had engaged Tesla's Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), Full Self Driving (FSD) (Supervised)."
But data shows that before the crash, Butler "manually overrode FSD (Supervised) by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%," the NTSB noted.
The Tesla was driving over 70 mph when it struck the house, the NTSB said, noting that the speed limit on Avila's residential road is 30 mph.
"All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes," the NTSB said in a statement.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating, the NTSB said.
Butler's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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(WASHINGTON) -- Rep. Joaquin Castro, along with more than 110 Democratic members of Congress, has sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin urging the shutdown of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.
The facility, which is the only family detention center in the country, was closed during the Biden administration but was reopened last year as part of the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown.
In the letter, which was first obtained by ABC News, they write, "There is no humane way to imprison a child and their family. It is nothing more than a trailer prison that detains families. In fact, the Dilley facility is the only place in the United States dedicated to detaining families with children who have not been charged with a crime."
"Former and current detained families describe horrific conditions perpetuated by CoreCivic and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that are meant to strip them of their dignity and make them feel hopeless," the letter says.
The letter outlines how parents have described "horrendous conditions at Dilley," including allegations of food "contaminated with worms and mold," drinking water that leaves detainees feeling sick, lights that stay on through the night and inadequate education and medical care that has led to "severe depression, hopelessness and suicidal ideation amongst their children," according to the letter.
Medical care "is delayed, denied, and in many cases outright dismissed, even when children are suffering life threatening medical emergencies," the letter says, describing an alleged incident in which a young boy was not taken to the hospital until after several days of "severe stomach pain," after which he was diagnosed with appendicitis and required surgery.
Immigrant advocates, medical professionals and lawmakers have previously raised concerns about conditions at the South Texas facility.
ABC News in February interviewed a couple who said their 1-year-old daughter contracted COVID-19 and RSV during their 60-day detention. The family alleged that medical staff at Dilley dismissed their daughter's symptoms.
Rep. Castro raised his own concerns about a 2-month old he encountered while visiting another family at the facility in February.
At the time, the top medical official at the Department of Homeland Security, which operates the nation's migrant detention centers, disputed any suggestion that detainees are being denied proper care.
"These allegations of illegal aliens being denied proper medical care in ICE custody are FALSE," DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Conley told ABC News in a statement. "It is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, women's health, mental health services, any needed follow up medical appointments, as well as 24-hour emergency care."
"This is better, more responsive health care than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives," Conley's statement said.
"These representatives remain quiet about the humanitarian crisis that was manufactured by the Biden Administration's open border policies over the last four years and the scores of children exploited, trafficked and missing," a DHS spokesperson said. "Do they plan to mention the psychiatric impact on the tens of thousands of children who were smuggled across the border -- many by human and sex traffickers?"
"We've jumpstarted our efforts to rescue children who were victims of sex and labor trafficking by working with our state and local law enforcement partners to locate these children. President Trump and DHS are laser-focused on protecting children and will continue to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to reunite children with their families," the spokesperson said.
The Democrats' letter also claims that children are held at the Dilley facility beyond the general 20-day limit established under the Flores Settlement Agreement, a legal settlement from the 1990s that outlines appropriate protections and conditions for detaining minors.
"Families at Dilley report being held well beyond that limit with no clear timeline or explanation," the letter says. "In February and March 2026, the government has stated that children's average time in custody at Dilley was approximately 57 days, and the median time in custody was approximately 44 days, with 92 children being detained for 61-90 days, and 80 children detained for more than 91 days."
A DHS spokesperson, responding to a February ABC News report about the extended custody times, said, "For years, the Flores consent decree has been a tool of the left to promote an open borders agenda. It is long overdue for a single district in California to stop managing the Executive Branch's immigration functions. The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our immigration system."
"No child should be in a place like the Dilley Trailer Prison," Castro said in a statement. "Under Trump, ICE is ripping children away from their families, school, and lives. They should be treated like kids -- not criminals. I am grateful that over 100 of my colleagues in Congress are joining the fight to shut down the Dilley Trailer Prison."
In addition to shuttering Dilley, the letter demands that DHS terminates the contract it has with CoreCivic, the private prison contractor that operates the Dilley facility. The letter alleges that "CoreCivic is prioritizing profits over humane treatment of its detainees."
"No child and family should be imprisoned for seeking safety by legitimately following United States immigration laws," the letter says. "The United States has the tools, the resources, and the legal framework to process these families without detention."
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(WASHINGTON) -- The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund filed a motion Wednesday asking for a stay and a preliminary injunction barring the U.S. government from "sharing the confidential information of Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian Government" while the issue is adjudicated in court.
The filing came a week after the organization sued the Trump administration over those allegations.
According to that complaint, many Iranian asylum seekers are pro-democracy protesters, members of religious minorities, or members of the LGBTQ community who have sought refuge in the U.S. -- and that disclosing their confidential information to the Iranian government puts them "at risk of persecution, torture, and death" should they be deported back to Iran.
Wednesday's motion also asks the government "to take the necessary steps to prevent the removal of any detained individuals whose confidential information has already been shared with the Iranian Government," according to the filing.
In the filing, the IALDF alleges that the sharing of information was started in March of 2025, and that since late September 2025, at least three deportation flights have taken place, returning more than 100 Iranian nationals to Iran.
The filing includes 11 declarations by Iranian detainees in the U.S., more than half of which describe interactions, while in detention, with Iranian officials who knew details about their asylum claims.
"It's shocking to think that at the same time the United States is engaged in hostilities with Iran, that the United States is handing over immigration files from ICE to the Iranian Interest Section in Washington, DC," said Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney for Public Citizen who filed the case on behalf of IALDF. "These files are full of extremely confidential and sensitive information."
"It basically spells out all the reasons somebody in the United States fears being returned to Iran and that could be because they participated in pro-democracy demonstrations; it could be because they have converted to a minority religion like Christianity; it could be that they're part of the LGBTQ community," Kirkpatrick said. "That kind of information is exactly the kind of information that they -- that would result in their persecution if they went back to Iran."
"They are terrified," said Ali Rahnama, the interim executive director of IALDF, saying they're scared not only for themselves but for family and friends back in Iran. "I want everyone to know these are not statistics; these are human beings who trusted the U.S. government and our laws," he said.
The documents in the filing also relate details about an alleged phone call and meeting between IALDF board member Cyril Mehri and a senior Iranian official with the Iranian Interest Section in the United States. "According to the Senior Official, ICE has provided the Iranian Government with immigration documents related to each detainee, including asylum applications and related case files," the filing said.
The IALDF argues that the government's actions in sharing information without the consent of the detained individuals are unlawful.
The Department of Homeland Security has denied sharing information with the Iranian government, writing in a social media post, "These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE. ICE meets and works to get travel documents for detainees with every country. ICE is committed to ensuring that illegal aliens are informed of their right to communicate with their consular representatives."
"Consistent with established protocols, ICE provides illegal aliens the opportunity to contact their consular post and facilitates consular access to detained individuals, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and agency policy," the DHS post said. "We will continue to use all lawful options to deport illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from American communities."
A State Department spokesperson, following the filing of the lawsuit last week, said that the department, as a general matter, does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation, or on private diplomatic discussions.
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