By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press

BENSENVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Federal agents seized hundreds of thousands of illegal vaping products in raids across the country Wednesday as the Trump administration moved to crack down on devices that are regularly used by teens in the U.S. after being smuggled in from China.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top federal officials traveled to Illinois to tout the seizures, which included more than 600,000 illegal products taken from a distributor outside of Chicago, officials said. They stood outside the warehouse flanked by colored boxes of vapes in fruity flavors officials say are being illegally sold at stores nationwide.

“They’re targeting children, young adults, college students and even members of our military” Bondi said. “Make no mistake Chinese companies are making billions of dollars off of these products. They’re peddling them into our country.”

It’s the latest attempt by law enforcement to staunch the flow of unauthorized vapes that have flooded into the U.S. in kid-friendly flavors, often from China. Their influx has forced the FDA to try to eliminate thousands of illegal products sold by under-the-radar importers and distributors.

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Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service also seized illegal products from distributors and retailers in North Carolina, Arizona, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida, federal officials said.

The Justice Department also filed civil actions Wednesday seeking to halt illegal business practices happening at five distributors and five retailers, officials said. That follows undercover buys of illegal products that ATF agents carried out at distributors across the country last month, according to authorities.

Bondi said the Justice Department would also not rule out bringing criminal charges, if warranted.

Vaping among teens skyrocketed in 2019, when more than a quarter reported using vapes daily. But use has declined in recent years with fewer adolescents reported vaping in 2024 than at any point in the last decade. Officials attributed that drop in part to more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers.

The Vapor Technology Association blasted the FDA and federal officials, arguing the actions threaten to bankrupt thousands of small businesses, cost tens of thousands of jobs, and erase billions in tax revenue. The group’s executive director, Tony Abboud, called the seizures “an assault on American workers, small businesses, and the tax base” and urged regulators to reverse course.

Associated Press journalists Amanda Seitz and Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed to this report.

By BERNARD CONDON, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday, according to wealth tracker Bloomberg, as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading.

A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years running. Stock in one of Musk’s biggest holdings, Tesla, has been moving in the opposite direction of Oracle’s, dropping 14% so far this year as of Tuesday.

The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle powered by multibillion dollar orders from customers as the AI race heats up.

Another news organization with a long history of tallying the world’s richest, Forbes, still has Musk at the top, at $439 billion. Bloomberg put his net worth at $385 billion. The difference is in how the two estimate the value of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, among other private holdings.

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With Ellison’s surging fortune Wednesday, he could fund the lifestyles of 5 million American families for a year, about the entire population of Florida, allowing them to all quit their jobs, assuming the U.S. median household income.

Or Ellison could just tell all of South Africa to take a vacation for year and produce nothing, based on its gross domestic product.

By TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has portrayed his federal law enforcement surge in Washington as focused on tackling crime. But data from the federal operation, analyzed by The Associated Press, shows that more than 40% of the arrests made over the monthlong operation were in fact related to immigration.

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The finding highlights that in the nation’s capital, the administration continued to advance its hardline immigration agenda.

The Trump administration has claimed success in the federal takeover in D.C., saying it has led to more than 2,300 arrests, including more than a dozen homicide suspects, 20 alleged gang members and hundreds of people accused of drug and gun crimes. More than 220 illegal guns have been taken off the street, including in one case from a teen who made a concerning social media post about a school, officials said.

Yet the prominence of immigration arrests — more than 940 people — has fueled criticism that the true purpose of the operation may have been to expand deportations. For critics, the effort appears less a one-off push against crime in the capital than a model for federal intervention and the highlighting of violent crime in other cities led by Democratic mayors, a familiar political playbook that Trump leaned on during the 2020 campaign.

Already, officials in Chicago, long a foil for the administration’s law-and-order rhetoric, were bracing for an influx of immigration agents and possibly National Guard troops. Trump himself fanned speculation over the weekend, posting on social media a parody image from “Apocalypse Now” with helicopters looming over Chicago and the caption: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.”

Unclear how many faced non-immigration charges

The administration has repeatedly argued that deportations are inseparable from crime reduction, often casting those arrested by immigration authorities as the “worst of the worst.” Still, it remains unclear how many of those taken into custody in Washington had any other charges pending.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said many had prior arrests, convictions or outstanding warrants for crimes like assault, drug possession and child sexual abuse, without specifying a number.

“Law enforcement is doing an outstanding job removing these threats from D.C. communities – the focus of this operation has been stopping violent crime committed by anyone, regardless of their immigration status,” Jackson said in an email.

Internal law enforcement reports obtained by the AP provide a partial picture. Over 10 days sampled during the surge, about 22 percent of those arrested on immigration violations had criminal records, including for driving while intoxicated, drug possession, grand larceny and burglary. That sample makes up a third of the entire period. Figures for other days were not immediately available.

Trump’s D.C. operation was launched to address a “crime emergency.”

Emergency order is set to expire

On Aug. 11, Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in an executive order to declare a “crime emergency” so his administration could take over the city’s police force. That order is set to expire overnight Wednesday. He signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard, which remains in the city along with other federal agents.

While immigration enforcement agents have been part of the operation since the beginning, Trump has put an emphasis on wanting to address the city’s crime rates, which figures show slowed during the federal law enforcement surge but were already falling before it. Congress let the emergency order expire on Wednesday but National Guard troops are expected to remain deployed in the city.

Just a few days after the president declared a crime emergency, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered city officials to revoke the district’s “sanctuary policies,” signaling the administration’s efforts to focus on immigration enforcement in the operation. Sanctuary policies generally limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers.

After a lawsuit by D.C. officials, the administration agreed to leave the city’s police chief in control of the department, but Bondi in a new memo directed police to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law.

In Bondi’s order last month on “restoring safety and security” to the nation’s capital, she wrote the dangers posed by violent crime in the city are “multiplied by the District’s sanctuary city policies.” She added that the “proliferation of illegal aliens into our country during the prior Administration, including into our Nation’s capital, presents extreme public safety and national security risks to our country.”

Peer-reviewed academic studies have generally found no link between immigration and violent crime, though conclusions vary based on the data examined.

Immigrants felt the clampdown through the surge

Immigration and Customs Enforcement made immigration-related arrests in the Washington area before the operation launched. But the agency’s presence has been much more visible since the Aug. 11 launch of the operation. Activists across the city have responded, often publicizing on social media locations where ICE has been seen and sharing videos of agents arresting people.

Immigrants worried about checkpoints or arrests have furiously been sharing information across messaging apps about streets to avoid. Activists have also stepped in to deliver food to immigrants fearful of leaving their homes because they risk encountering federal officers surging into the city.

In social media posts, the Homeland Security Department has highlighted the number of people it has arrested for immigration violations as part the Trump administration’s violent crime operation in D.C. In one such post, it said staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were being deployed to “help clean up the streets of our nation’s capital.”

“DHS will support the re-establishment of law and order and public safety in DC, which includes taking drug dealers, gang members, and criminal aliens off city streets,” the department said.

By BEN FINLEY

Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces an uncertain future.

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The Trump administration wants to deport him to the African nation of Eswatini. Abrego Garcia wants to apply for asylum to stay in the U.S.

Either path could begin with a long journey through the legal system.

Abrego Garcia, 30, became a flashpoint over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the MS-13 gang, an allegation that Abrego Garcia denies and for which he wasn’t charged.

The administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. in June, but only to face human smuggling charges. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have called the case preposterous and vindictive.

Abrego Garcia was released from a Tennessee jail to await his trial last month. He was taken into immigration custody three days later and remains in a Virginia detention center.

Here’s a look at what could happen next:

Fears of other countries

The Trump administration has proposed sending Abrego Garcia to Eswatini because it cannot legally send him to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador around 2011 because a local gang had extorted and terrorized him and his family, according to court documents. Abrego Garcia had settled in Maryland without documentation to join his older brother, who had become a U.S. citizen.

One day in 2019, Abrego Garcia sought work as a day laborer outside a Home Depot. A confidential informant told police that Abrego Garcia and other men outside the store were in MS-13 because of their clothing and tattoos, according to court documents.

Abrego Garcia was never charged but was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He applied for asylum, but was denied because his request came more than a year after he entered the U.S.

However, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported to El Salvador after Abrego Garcia demonstrated that he had a well-founded fear of gang persecution there.

Six years later, in the early days of the second Trump administration, ICE deported Abrego Garcia to a notorious El Salvador prison, violating the immigration judge’s order. Following a Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned him to the U.S., but only to face charges of human smuggling.

The Trump administration said last month that it intended to deport him to the African country of Uganda. Abrego Garcia notified the U.S. government that he fears being sent there over concerns of persecution or being sent on to El Salvador.

Last Friday, the Trump administration said it now intends to deport him to Eswatini.

A letter from ICE said his fears are “hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries.”

Trump’s immigration court

The U.S. is supposed to follow a multi-step process for deporting someone to a nation that isn’t their home country, according to immigration attorneys.

For example, an immigration officer is supposed to conduct a reasonable fear interview, during which Abrego Garcia can raise concerns about persecution and torture. If the officer disagrees, Abrego Garcia can ask an immigration judge to review the decision. From there, Abrego Garcia can go to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Immigration judges are part of the Justice Department and under the Trump administration’s authority. Trump has been firing immigration judges, many appointed by former President Joe Biden, as part of his immigration crackdown.

However, Abrego Garcia can contest a Board of Immigration Appeals decision in the federal courts, which are part of the nation’s independent judiciary.

‘You can’t win every case’

Even if Abrego Garcia thwarts deportation to Eswatini, he likely will face attempts to remove him to another country and then another, according to Memphis-based immigration attorney Andrew Rankin.

“By the law of averages, you can’t win every case,” he said.

Asylum, however, could place the focus solely back on El Salvador, where Abrego Garcia has previously shown a credible fear of gang persecution.

Abrego Garcia has filed a motion to reopen his 2019 immigration case and apply for asylum. His lawyers will likely argue he’s eligible because he’s been in the U.S. less than a year, Rankin said.

Asylum could provide a green card and a path to citizenship. But he’s taking a risk, Rankin said. If Abrego Garcia loses his bid, an immigration judge could remove his protection from being returned to El Salvador.

‘A traffic court setting’

Abrego Garcia’s motion to reopen his immigration case is still pending. If it’s denied, he can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. From there, he can go to the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, left, hugs her husband Kilmar Abrego Garcia at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

If he is allowed to request asylum, he’ll get a hearing. His lawyers and the government can present evidence and call witnesses.

“A very famous saying about immigration court is ’Immigration court has death penalty consequences in a traffic court setting,” said Rankin, the attorney.

For example, immigration judges have much wider discretion on scheduling, admitting evidence and issuing judgments, Rankin said. There can be little consistency between individual immigration courts.

“In traffic court, you’re deciding a speeding ticket, which at most affects insurance purposes,” Rankin said. “Whereas in immigration court, you’re deciding in this particular case whether someone’s going to go home to die. Or if they’re going to stay in the U.S.”

Attorney general could rule

Attorney General Pam Bondi has the authority to decide Abrego Garcia’s immigration case as the head of the Justice Department, immigration experts say. Such decisions are rare, but the Trump administration has shown a willingness to break with precedent.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys in his Tennessee criminal case have criticized Bondi for what they say are prejudicial statements, claiming he can’t get a fair criminal trial.

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, an Ohio State University law professor, said a hypothetical ruling from Bondi would likely be appealed to the 4th Circuit.

The smartest thing for Bondi to do, the professor said, is to “work with a good group of Justice Department lawyers who are going to explain the factual basis for your conclusion.”

Rankin, the attorney in Memphis, said Abrego Garcia’s attorneys likely would attack any decision made by Bondi to deport him as “a political hit job.”

“It would destroy any credibility that this is a prosecution for the American people and not a prosecution for Donald Trump,” Rankin said.