CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities arrested 21 protesters Friday outside a Chicago-area federal immigration facility that activists say functions as a de facto detention center and is plagued by inhumane conditions.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said the arrests were made by midday, and that it was working on verifying identities and potential charges.

Just moments before the clash, demonstrators were singing and chanting. Around 10 a.m., a large group, knowing they were going to be arrested, allegedly crossed the protest barrier and attempted to walk up toward the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

Some protesters carried signs reading, “God’s Love Knows No Borders” and “God Demands Freedom.” Some of them prayed. The crowd numbered about 300 before it began to disperse.

The officers included Illinois State Police and Cook County sheriffs’ police.

The facility in Broadview, Illinois, has been the site of frequent protests, particularly on Fridays, against a federal immigration crackdown dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” It has led to more than 3,200 arrests in the Chicago metropolitan area since September of people suspecting of violating immigration laws.

The aggressive tactics used by agents from Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have repeatedly come under fire through legal challenges as well as street protests.

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By SEUNG MIN KIM and MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not an official state visit, but the White House is preparing to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next week with the pomp and circumstance that is typical of one.

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The crown prince’s day at the White House next Tuesday will begin with an arrival ceremony on the sweeping South Lawn and a subsequent greeting on the South Portico, according to a senior White House official.

Then Trump will host him in the Oval Office for a bilateral meeting, followed by a signing and lunch in the Cabinet Room where the U.S. and Saudi Arabia will formalize multiple economic and defense agreements, said the official, granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s planning.

Later in the evening, the White House will hold an East Room dinner hosted and planned by first lady Melania Trump.

His visit is billed as an official working visit because Prince Mohammed is not technically a head of state, the official said.

On Wednesday, dozens of CEOs are expected to attend a meeting of the U.S.-Saudi Business Council at the Kennedy Center, the fine arts facility that is now led and managed by Trump loyalists. Though the U.S. president’s attendance is not yet confirmed for the business meeting, he is likely to attend, the senior White House official said.

Trump’s relationship with the Gulf nations has been a top foreign policy priority for the president in his second term. His first major trip abroad was a tour of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where Trump was welcomed with an exceptionally rare Air Force One escort by royal Saudi Air Force F-15s and a state dinner at a UNESCO heritage site.

“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said as he met with Prince Mohammed in the royal palace in Riyadh. Later, Trump described Prince Mohammed as an “incredible man” and “my friend.”

It also marks the first trip to the United States by the crown prince since the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018 during Trump’s first term. U.S. intelligence agencies have said Prince Mohammed likely directed the killing, resulting in sanctions against several Saudi officials. He denies his involvement, and both the Trump and Biden administrations have worked to mend ties with Saudi Arabia since.

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker as it traveled through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Friday, a U.S. official said, turning the ship into Iranian territorial waters in the first-such interdiction in months in the strategic waterway.

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Iran did not acknowledge the seizure, though it comes as Tehran has been increasingly warning it can strike back after facing a 12-day war in June with Israel that saw the U.S. strike Iranian nuclear sites.

The ship, the Talara, had been traveling from Ajman, United Arab Emirates, onward to Singapore when Iranian forces intercepted it, said the U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. A U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone had been circling above the area where the Talara was for hours on Friday observing the seizure, flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed.

A private security firm, Ambrey, described the assault as involving three small boats approaching the Talara.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center separately acknowledged the incident, saying a possible “state activity” forced the Talara to turn into Iranian territorial waters. Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement later said in a statement that it had “lost contact” with the tanker, which was carrying high sulphur gasoil.

The company has “notified the relevant authorities and is working closely with all relevant parties — including maritime security agencies and the vessel owner — to restore contact with the vessel,” the firm said. “The safety of the crew remains our foremost priority.”

The Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Those attacks began after U.S. President Donald Trump in his first term in office unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

In May 2022, Iran took two Greek tankers and held them until November of that year. Iran seized the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship MSC Aries in April 2024.

Those attacks found themselves subsumed by the Iranian-backed Houthis assaults targeting ships during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which drastically reduced shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor.

The years of tensions between Iran and the West, coupled with the situation in the Gaza Strip, exploded into a full-scale 12-day war in June.

Iran long has threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes. The U.S. Navy has long patrolled the Mideast through its Bahrain-based 5th Fleet to keep the waterways open.

By JUSTIN SPIKE

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary will challenge the European Union’s plan to end Russian energy imports and take the case to an EU court, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday.

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Speaking on state radio, Orbán accused the bloc of trying to sidestep his veto power over sanctions on Russian energy by using trade rules instead in its plan to phase out all imports of Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

“We are turning to the European Court of Justice in this matter,” Orbán said Friday. “This is a flagrant violation of European law, the rule of law and European cooperation … They will pay a very high price for this.”

Hungary remains heavily dependent on Russian fossil fuels and has sought exemptions and threatened to veto EU sanctions since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. During a visit to Washington last week, Orbán secured an exemption from U.S. sanctions on two Russian energy companies following a White House meeting with President Donald Trump.

Numerous U.S. officials have said the waiver, which ensures Russian oil and gas will continue to flow to Hungary, will last one year, though Orbán has insisted it is indefinite. On Friday, Orbán credited his close personal relationship with Trump for receiving the exemption, and said it would remain in place as long as both he and the president remain in office.

Orbán has called continued access to Russian energy “vital” for his landlocked country and warned cutting it off would result in an economic collapse, though some critics dispute that claim.

The Hungarian leader on Friday said he was “also exploring other means of a non-legal nature” to avoid falling under the EU’s planned Russian energy phase-out, but declined to say what they were.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine