By JIM MUSTIAN and SARA CLINE

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Three current or former Louisiana police chiefs were arrested following a federal investigation into an alleged scheme that involved false police reports being sold to immigrants lacking permanent legal status and used to try to secure a visa, authorities said Tuesday.

The forged police reports would indicate that the immigrant was a victim of a crime, U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook said at a news conference in Baton Rouge. He said the police officials were paid $5,000 for each name they provided falsified reports for, and that there were hundreds of names.

There had been “an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana,” Van Hook said.

“In fact, the armed robberies never took place,” he said.

Van Hook and others said at the news conference that the arrest of the current or former chiefs and two other people doesn’t mean their police departments are corrupt.

Some crime victims, and their families, may be eligible for temporary visas — and, in some cases, a path to citizenship. About 10,000 people got these “U-visas” in the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, 2022, the latest period for which the Homeland Security Department has published data.

These special visas are specifically for victims of certain crimes “who have suffered mental or physical abuse” and are “helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” based on a description of the program published by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Two of the police chiefs had been arrested as of the Wednesday morning news conference, authorities said.

Lester Duhé, a spokesperson for the Louisiana attorney general’s office, said that office was assisting federal agents with “court-authorized activities” when asked about its role in the case.

The current or former police chiefs are from small central Louisiana municipalities that are near each other. They’re in a part of the state that is home to multiple immigration detention facilities. Although Louisiana doesn’t share a border with a foreign country, there are nine ICE detention facilities in the state — holding nearly 7,000 people.

Local news outlets reported seeing ICE and FBI agents entering the homes of two of the chiefs.

Additional details about the investigation, arrests and the alleged scheme were not made available.

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In 2021, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services warned that the U-visa program was susceptible to fraud after an audit from the Office of Inspector General found they had not addressed deficiencies in their process.

The audit found the agency approved a handful of suspicious law enforcement signatures that were not cross-referenced with a database of authorized signatures, according to the OIG report. They were also not closely tracking fraud case outcomes, the total number of U-visas granted per year, and were not effectively managing the backlog, which led to crime victims waiting for nearly 10 years before receiving a U-visa.

Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this report from McAllen, Texas.

By MELANIE LIDMAN, WAFAA SHURAFA, and JULIA FRANKEL

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Twenty Palestinians were killed Wednesday, most of them trampled in a crowd at a food distribution site run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip, the group said, the first time it has reported deaths at its operations. They came as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials.

The Gaza Humanitarian Fund accused Hamas of fomenting unrest in the crowd leading to a “dangerous surge” though it provided no evidence to support the claim. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic in the narrow, fenced-in entrance.

It was the first time GHF has confirmed deaths at one of its food hubs.

But since the sites began operating in late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while on roads heading to the sites, according to witnesses and health officials. GHF’s four sites are all in military-controlled zones, and the Israeli military has said its troops have only fired warning shots to control crowds.

Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and many are teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts.

This is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. (AP Photo)

Stun grenades and pepper spray caused chaos, witnesses say

GHF said it believed that 19 of the dead died from trampling at its food distribution center between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah and one was killed by a stabbing in the crowd.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 17 people suffocated at the site and three others were shot. It was not clear if the shootings took place during the crush or earlier on the road to the center. The witnesses did not report shots fired at the center but said Israeli troops fired on the crowds as they headed to the location.

Witnesses said that thousands of Palestinians arrived at the site early in the morning, and the Americans contractors guarding it did not open the gates. It was not clear if it was before the site’s opening time or if it was not operating at all, since schedules often change.

The crowd surged forward at the turnstiles in the fenced-in entranceway, said one survivor, Ahmed Abu Amra.

“The Americans were calling out on the loudspeakers, ‘Go back, go back.’ But no one could turn around because it was so crowded,” he said. “Everyone was on top of each other. We tried to pull out the people who were underneath, but we couldn’t. The Americans were throwing stun grenades at us.”

Other witnesses said the contractors used pepper spray as well. The Health Ministry said tear gas was used, but GHF denied that and said its contractors deployed “limited use of pepper spray.” It said they fired no shots at the crowd.

“Everyone suffocated from people crushing on top of each other,” said Omar al-Najjar, a Rafah resident, as he and other men carried an injured man on a stretcher. He said the chaos at the sites is forcing Palestinians to “march towards death.”

GHF said it believed elements in the crowd “armed and affiliated with Hamas” fomented the unrest. It said that its contractors identified men with firearms in the crowd and confiscated one.

Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food are left stacked on the ground inside the center and, once opened, crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses and videos released by GHF itself.

In videos obtained recently by The Associated Press from an American contractor working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds back behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard.

The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food since May. Of those, 674 were killed while en route to GHF food sites. The rest were reportedly killed while waiting for aid trucks entering Gaza.

Across Gaza, strikes kill 41 as Israel opens a new military corridor

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it has struck more than 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities.

Israel blames Hamas for the civilian deaths because the group often operates in residential areas.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced the opening of a new corridor — the fourth — that bisects Khan Younis, where Israeli troops have seized land in what they said is a pressure tactic against Hamas. In the past, these narrow strips of land have been a serious hurdle during ceasefire negotiations, as Israel has said it wants to maintain military presence in them.

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Negotiations in the Qatari capital between Israel and Hamas are at a standstill, after 21 months of war, which began with the terrorists’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. That day, terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 people, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Fifty hostages are still being held, less than half of them believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but is led by medical professionals. The United Nations and other international organizations consider its figures to be the most reliable count of war casualties.

Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Frankel reported from Ramallah, West Bank.

The Wild will open their 2025-26 home schedule against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Home openers were announced early Wednesday. With that information, it was also revealed Minnesota will be in St. Louis on Oct. 9 for the Blues’ home opener.

The rest of the schedule is expected to be released by the NHL today at noon.

This story will be updated.

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By KATE PAYNE, Associated Press/Report for America

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The trial for the Florida State University student accused of killing two people and wounding six others in a mass shooting on campus in April is set to go to trial this November.

At a case management conference in a Tallahassee courthouse on Wednesday, Second Judicial Circuit Judge Lance Neff set jury selection in the case of 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner to begin Nov. 3.

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Ikner’s attorney, public defender Peter Mills, said he needs more time to delve into the case, which involves extensive video surveillance footage and witness testimony.

“I object to that, judge,” Mills said of the trial schedule. “I am still investigating the case. My client’s entitled to effective assistance of counsel.”

Neff indicated he’s open to hearing out Mills’ concerns, saying, “we can talk about what, what you need” in order to investigate the case.

As far as the prosecution, Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell said, “we’ll be ready.”

So far, the defense has not participated in discovery, the process of exchanging information between the parties about evidence and witnesses. But that is expected to change, Ikner’s attorney said.

Ikner faces two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder. He is the stepson of a local sheriff’s deputy, and investigators say he used his stepmother’s former service weapon to carry out the shooting.

Prosecutors in the case intend to seek the death penalty.

Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.